The Beginning
by RenoLuvver
Summary: A story about Elena's start as a Turk. Everyone remember when they first saw Reno? I'm fairly certain Reno always makes an impression. RenoxElena. as always! Thanks for reading! Rated for language. Right now at least, who knows what will happen?
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: NEW STORY!!! Hurrah! I have a feeling this will be the best one yet! Sorry again with the boring title, but at least it's to the point! =P If anyone has brilliant ideas, feel free to share, my last oneshot had a lot of great title ideas from my devoted readers. I finally settled on "Just Add Salt" suggested by QueenAlla. So thanks. Also thanks to everyeone else who suggested ideas, they were all great but I can only pick one!!! =) Anyway, this is my new story, first chapter. I hope you guys enjoy. And please forgive me for the long break in updates. I was unable to write for several days due to a multitude of reasons. But I'm back now, writing regularly again! So read this chapter, let me know what you think! I realize a lot of people write stories about Elena's start as a Turk, but hey! It's a good idea. xD So read, review, repeat!!! Thank you guys!_

Elena flicked the lights on in the living room of her cozy apartment, tossing her purse onto the table with a sigh. Falling onto the couch with a sigh, the blonde girl rested her eyes. It had been a long day of job hunting. She thought it would be easier to secure a job as a graduate of a Shinra military school.

"Seriously, why do they even have those things if they don't hire us," she grumbled in annoyance. She'd applied for every position imaginable at the Shinra headquarters. She'd even applied for the Turks, despite being assured by the secretary assisting her that no one would get a position there. Still, she had applied mainly for the sake of being able to say she had applied for every position.

Elena's chain of thought was broken abruptly by a deafening bang, followed by a rumble, which grew louder and louder until she was forced to cover her ears. Everything shook and the lights flickered. The disturbance lasted about thirty seconds before it began to settle down. The resulting silence was eerie, replaced shortly by a wailing of sirens in the distance.

Somewhat shaken and overbearingly curious, Elena sat still, wondering what the hell had just happened. Searching briefly for the TV remote, she turned it on, relieved to find that it was still working and the news station was working as well. Sifting through the confusing information all the news networks were spewing out, Elena eventually pieced together what had happened.

"Those assholes!" she tossed the remote aside with disgust, leaving the TV on however to continue monitoring the reports. Apparently AVALANCE, the Shinra-hating-planet-loving group had blown up the entire seventh sector for no apparent reason. "How could they? All those innocent people," the girl turned the volume on the TV down since nothing new was being reported. Her frustration with her fruitless job search had been replaced with sorrow for the people and anger against the cause. She stayed up long enough to determine that there was no more information to be had that night, and to hear the live newscast by the President of Shinra. He expressed his immense sorrow at this catastrophe and his just anger against the instigators. He assured the citizens of Midgar that already plans were in motion to stop AVALANCE from causing any more harm. He hoped to soon eradicate the group, permanently removing the danger.

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The explosion of the previous night did not stop Elena from continuing her job search the next day. She moved slower though, spending more time over the little things, sitting still to enjoy her cup of coffee instead of chugging it on the go. She broadened her search, willing to settle for almost anything at this point. The day passed much as normal throughout the city, overshadowed however by the disaster.

As she walked down the sidewalk, her cell phone began to ring. Elena curiously looked at the screen. She didn't recognize the number.

"Hello, may I ask who's calling?" she answered, trying to sound as professional as possible, hoping it was someone calling her for an interview or something at least.

"This is Tseng, head of the Turks. Elena, I presume?" a man's deep, smooth voice replied.

"Yes, this is Elena," she tried to refrain from squealing. Was she seriously going to get a job offer?

"I'm a very busy man, I'll make this quick. We have found ourselves suddenly in need of another Turk. You got lucky. Can you come to begin training right away? If not I have several other promising applicants…" Tseng left the sentence hanging, his calm voice seeming a drastic contrast to his words.

"Uh…yes, yes, of course," Elena instantly began walking faster, her mind struggling to keep up with the unexpected chain of events.

"Good. I'll leave instructions with the secretary at the front desk, be there within the hour," With this the man hung up, leaving Elena in a stunned silence.

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"Welcome to the Turks, Elena," Tseng's calm, smooth voice said after he has sat simple staring at her for about five nerve-wracking minutes. Elena has shown up at the building with ample time to spare, and had spent a harrowing hour being interviewed and filling out a bit of paperwork.

"Th-thank you, sir!" she shook his hand, still surprised that this was even happening.

"Hmm. You will start immediately, nothing complicated at first so don't worry," the man handed her a chunky file full of papers, "Go over these tonight. It's basically all the information you will need to know before you can be of any use to us. It also contains information such as salary and a more detailed job description." Here the dark haired man paused and watched her face for a moment. To the general public, the Turks were elite bodyguards, but it was rumored almost to the point of becoming fact that their job really involved much more. It was one of those things that everyone knew but no one could prove and no one would admit to. _It can't be that bad. _Elena assured herself. She was no softy, but she still had emotions.

"I'll read it over this evening," Elena promised.

"Good. You have three co-workers: Rude, Reno, and myself," Tseng dug around and produced a photo to go along with each name, excepting his own. Elena looked at these eagerly, very curious about her fellow Turks. Rude was intimidating, even in a picture, dressed in the neat Turk uniform and dark sunglasses. Reno, while not intimidating in the slightest, was definitely eye-catching. Long blood-red hair pulled back in a ponytail combined with pale skin and aquamarine eyes was intriguing enough, not to mention the matching red marks on his cheekbones. _This one's got a personality. _Elena immediately assessed, noting the messy uniform which lacked a tie, as well as the wink and grin.

"Where are they, sir, if you don't mind my asking?" she asked, looking up at her boss.

"Rude is working in his office. I'll show you your office and let you meet Rude shortly. Reno…well Reno recently encountered an unfortunate incident and is currently in the infirmary. I can take you to meet him as well though." The smile, almost a smirk, that twitched briefly across the man's face made Elena slightly nervous. Was she missing something?

"Great," she smiled, brushing the feeling away. It was a ridiculous suspicion, people, even people as serious as Tseng, could smile whenever they wanted to right?

Tseng took her a couple doors down the hallway and unlocked one to reveal a fully furnished office, complete with top-of-the-line computer. He handed her the key he had used.

"This office will be yours. Don't destroy it."

"Thank you, sir!" Elena looked around at the nice room, feeling extremely professional.

"Sir is nice, but you can call me Tseng if you'd like," the man said as they left, "And always lock your office when you leave it for the day or for any long period of time. You probably won't be going back in there today so go ahead and lock it." Elena did as she was told and the two continued down the hallway to the next door, which was open halfway.

"Rude, this is the new Turk," Tseng announced as they walked in, "Her name is Elena." The bald man looked up from his desk, where he sat with a pretty good sized stack of files next to him. He still wore sunglasses, even though he was inside.

"Hello," Rude said, his voice quiet but not timid, with a good deal of the same calmness that showed in Tseng's voice. Elena smiled and waved.

"We'll see how she does," Tseng said, "Hopefully she can handle it. I'm taking her to meet Reno now." The smile was back, stronger now, and more disturbing since Rude matched it, looking towards Elena.

"Good luck," he said, and turned back to his paperwork, still grinning.

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The infirmary was located a few floors down from the floor the Turks were on, which was pretty high up in the massive building. A nurse looked up from what seemed to be the 'front' desk when they stepped off the elevator. Seeing Tseng, she smiled politely and went back to her work. Walking down the hall as if he owned the place, the Turk leader led her silently through the maze of impeccably clean rooms, all pristine and white enough to make anyone go crazy. Finally arriving at their destination, Tseng laid his hand on the doorknob of the closed door and turned to smile at her one last time before opening it.

"How's he doing?" Tseng asked of the nurse that was in the room, who was checking the read-outs on the machines in the room. Elena's attention was drawn directly to the man laying asleep in the bed. He was definitely the same person from the picture but he looked so different. The pale skin was even paler, making the red marks along the sides of his face stand out so much more. The blood-red hair was pulled back as usual, messily covering the pillows his head rested on. The man looked tired even though he was sleeping, making pity well up in Elena's heart.

"He's stable now, sir," the nurse answered, steadily, though it was apparent she was a bit awkward in Tseng's presence, "The bleeding has mostly stopped and the doctor was able to set the bones successfully in his arm and knee. Although the knee was extremely tricky and we're not sure how well it will heal."

Tseng nodded, not seeming too disturbed by this report, "This is Reno, Elena. This is basically the reason you got your job. We've been shorthanded lately, but it wasn't unbearable until Reno encountered this….incident. It was the last straw you could say. Hopefully you will soon be able to fulfill the duties we are in need of."

"I hope I can help too," Elena didn't take her eyes off the man in the bed. He was tall, and very thin, she could tell even though he was laying down and mostly covered by crisp white sheets, "Is he ok?" she asked, almost in a whisper. He just looked so…hurt.

"Well he's got a rather large cut on his back," Tseng explained.

"From here to here," the nurse added, pointing to her shoulder and then her waist on the opposite side. Elena's eyes widened slightly. _Damn, how do you get a cut that big? _This was no kitchen accident, that much she could definitely figure out.

"Also he's fractured his arm and managed to practically shatter his knee," Tseng sounded almost annoyed, "Don't ever for a moment think this job doesn't have it's risks," the man said softly, but very seriously, "This," he waved a hand toward Reno, "Is practically normal, to be expected. The job is dangerous. You could very easily be in this same position, or dead. Are you sure?" Tseng turned to look at the girl who stood next to him, only coming up to about his shoulder.

Elena considered silently for a moment, watching Reno's chest rise and fall shallowly, gazing at the heavily bandaged arm laying limply across his stomach, "I'm sure." She had got this job, she wasn't going to back out of it now. She may be a bit small, but Elena had more than her fair share of courage.

"Good," Tseng paused, looking back to the red-haired man, "Well Rude and myself will show you the ropes until Reno gets back. Then he will be given the task of training you. The two of you will work as partners. We won't send you on any missions until he is well again, which shouldn't be too long, right Reno?" He ended his statement as a question, directed towards Reno who had begun stirring. The man groaned in reply, attempted to roll over but gave up instantly as it appeared to cause him pain. "Nice to see you awake," Tseng said, the mysterious smile back on his face.

"Fuck off," Reno said through clenched teeth, not even bothering to look at his boss. Elena blinked, taken completely off-guard. He'd looked so weak and helpless laying there, in fact he still looked weak. Clearly there was a hell of a lot more personality to this man than she had guessed.

"Why don't you say hello to our new Turk?" Tseng suggested merrily, actually seeming to enjoy this encounter.

"Hello to our new Turk," Reno said, his voice mocking as he turned his head to look at the two of them with shining aquamarine eyes. He looked more than a little surprised to see the petite blonde woman standing there, "She's a girl, Tseng." Reno made it sound like an insult, completely ignoring her presence.

"Yes, she is. She has excellent qualifications and is looking forward to working with you as her partner," Tseng smiled delightedly. Reno just stared back at him.

"No," the redhead turned away, crossing his arms over his chest awkwardly because of the bulky cast.

"That's a shame," the Turk leader didn't looked the slightest bit perturbed by the man's rudeness, "Because we were going to let you out of the hospital early to begin training our new recruit here." Reno's head snapped back towards them, interest gleaming in his eyes.

"Ok," he had deliberated for a moment before coming to his decision, "Deal." Turning to his new partner, Reno looked her up and down slowly making her extremely uncomfortable, "Gotta name?" he asked curtly.

"Uh, Elena," she answered, wondering if maybe she shouldn't take this job after all.

"I guess you'll do," he answered with a lopsided grin, "So 'Lena, you'd better be enjoying this break because as soon as I get out of this hell-hole things are gonna get hard. All the qualifications in the world don't make you a Turk. I'll do my best to train ya, but at the end of the day experience is what counts." With these surprisingly wise words, Reno settled down again, clearly done with this conversation. Tseng simply smiled, smugly triumphant that he had gotten his way. Motioning for Elena to follow, Tseng turned to walk out the door.

"Oh, nice ass by the way," Reno called blithely after her, with a devilish grin and sparkling eyes. Elena's mouth fell open, she didn't even know how to respond to that. Before she came up with anything, they were in the hall, door closed safely behind them.

"Reno's like that," Tseng said, in what was supposed to be a comforting tone. Elena just walked along awkwardly. Now she understood the smiles and the 'good luck' she'd received from Rude.

_Author's Note: So what do ya think? Drop me a review and let me know!!!! Also, sorry for the swearing, but hey! Reno's like that. =) You'll get over it, I promise. Anywho, I'm gonna run now since I'm EXHAUSTED! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please leave a review and subscribe to story alert if you like it. =) THANK YOU AWESOME PEOPLE!!!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: New chapter! Hurray! xD I'm having a lot of fun writing this, I'm glad you guys like it. Well, it seems like we're going nowhere, but I promise you, we're definately going somewhere. xD Besides, who could get bored of Reno? =P Certainly not myself...but anyway, hang around, things will get excited ASAP. I'm going to keep this short since I've got a lot to do tonight, and I've actually got to go to sleep at some point and wake up in the morning. So yeah...um, read, review, repeat! And enjoy! xD_

Elena set the thick stack of papers she'd received from Tseng earlier that day aside. Settling down in bed, she reached up and turned the lamp off. Yawning, Elena closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep. It was a difficult thing to accomplish with all the new information swirling around in her head. After leaving the infirmary that afternoon, Tseng had let her go home after giving her a Turk uniform and instructions to be in his office at eight o'clock sharp the next morning. With that in mind, Elena forced herself to go to sleep, not wanting to be tired on her first official day of work.

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"Perfect fit," Elena murmured, twisting around in front of the mirror to see all views of her new uniform. The black suit was professional looking, but comfortable and easy to move in. _'Nice ass.' _The comment rang in her head and, with a slight blush, she turned to look at the area in question every which way she could. _Is it really that particularly nice? _She wondered. Feeling silly for wasting time considering something so unimportant, Elena quickly left the mirror and collected her things before heading out the door.

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"Reporting for duty, sir, uh sorry, Tseng," Elena stood awkwardly in the doorway of the simple, but elegant office, a million questions buzzing in her head.

"Ah, Elena. Good morning," Tseng finished off his signature on a piece of paper with a flourish and set his silver pen down on the dark wood desk, motioning for her to have a seat in one of the many matching chairs that littered the good-sized room. "Surprisingly, we don't have much for you to do today, since I've decided Reno should train you. He obviously still has not been released from the infirmary. In the meantime, I've asked Rude to show you what work needs to be done when you are not involved in a mission. Do you remember where his office is?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure," Elena replied, shifting nervously in the squishy chair and quickly recalling the similar room they'd gone to the day before.

"Good, I don't need to bring you there then. He knows you are coming, go on ahead," Tseng dismissed her and turned back to his work.

"Thank you," Elena hopped up from the chair and left, quickly walking the short distance down the bare hall to Rude's office.

"Hi," she said, smiling as she walked in through the open door. Rude looked up and nodded. Without saying anything else, he turned back to the paper in front of him. The silence that followed was so uncomfortable, Elena was about to scream when Rude set his pen down carefully, with a sort of crispness and beckoned her to a chair.

"Missions are only half the work," the bald man said in his quiet, but firm voice, "Paperwork is the other half. Everything is documented, although almost no one has clearance for access to Turk files." Rude paused, letting the full depth and meaning of that information sink in. He leaned back in his chair, folding his hands together comfortably. "When you are assigned a mission, Tseng will give you a file containing the information on that mission. We work in teams almost always. The file he will give you also has the uncompleted paperwork for that mission. Everyone involved has to fill out the same stuff for that mission. The paperwork is then returned to the file, and the file itself stored in the filing cabinets. There is another entire room for the filing cabinets. There are no electronic copies of anything. Believe it or not, it's safer that way. We keep pretty busy. When you're not on a mission, you're doing paperwork for one. Except Reno." Here a slight look of annoyance came over his face, but passed quickly, leaving a trace of sarcasm in the man's voice, "Reno is either on a mission, napping, or pulling pranks. We prefer it when he naps."

"Ok," Elena said, not really sure how to respond. She had taken in and understood everything Rude had told her, "Reno's, uh…quite the character, huh?" She looked at his face, trying to get some hint of how he took that comment. Sunglasses stared back at her.

"Yes, Reno is…Reno," Rude smirked and shook his head gently, "No one else can get away with what he gets away with. Don't underestimate him though, Reno's good. Very good. Only on missions though. Saying he's not cut-out for office work is like saying a pen isn't cut-out for eating." Rude plucked his pen from his desk and twirled it slightly. "I'm supposed to go over some paperwork with you just so you get an idea." Rude came around to the other side of his desk to sit in a chair next to hers.

The two Turks went through the paperwork together, Rude calmly pointing things out the whole time while Elena paid rapt attention.

"Well that's pretty much it," Rude announced about an hour later, "Of course, the details are different for every mission but the outline is basically the same. Certain missions require more paperwork and more details than others. Tseng probably has something else lined up for you." Rude returned to his normal chair without another word for the blonde woman.

Elena thanked him, receiving a nod in return, and left, heading back to Tseng's office.

"Ah, perfect timing," Tseng smiled and rubbed his hands briskly together, clicking the wooden door of his office closed behind him, "I was just coming to get you. We're going to see Reno again." The smile on Tseng's face twinkled in his eyes as well. He was apparently amused to see Elena's face fall at the mention of the redhead.

"Uh, ok," she said unenthusiastically, but trying to hide her reluctance. He was one of her co-workers after all. Nothing more was spoken as they made their way to the infirmary, taking the exact same route they had the day before. _He likes routine. _Elena decided, sneaking a glance up at her tall, sophisticated superior.

"No!" Reno was insisting violently when they walked in.

"Reno, don't give the poor doctor trouble," Tseng reprimanded, even though he had no idea what was going on, "He's one of the few who still agrees to treat you." He cast the redhead a scathing look.

"Please, just hold your arm out and bend your fingers," the doctor pleaded, casting a grateful glance to Tseng, exasperated, but clearly determined. The middle-aged doctor stood with arms folded, regarding the stubborn patient with annoyance.

"No," Reno said again, not even bothering to look at the man he was speaking to.

"Why not?" the white-coated man demanded.

"Because it will hurt," the Turk replied, matter-of-factly, turning his piercing aqua eyes onto the man.

"You know what would hurt? Not having the use of your left hand for the rest of your life because you couldn't handle a little pain so I can be sure everything's working properly," the doctor shot back, "If something's healing wrong I can fix it now, but not later." Reno blinked once.

"Fine," he conceded, holding his arm out and curling his fingers into a fist and open again with a wince, "I would like to point out that this wouldn't be such an issue if you would tell this cutie here," he gestured with his other hand toward the blushing nurse in the room, "To give me more pain meds. The dosage of morphine you're giving me here is pathetically low." Reno pointed briefly at the IV drip.

"More morphine?" the doctor gave a short, sarcastic laugh, "Not with your history of addiction. You're being given enough. Now wiggle your fingers."

"Enough?" Reno wiggled his long, delicate looking fingers, "Yeah, if you call just barely enough to keep me from screaming 'enough'." He grinned at Elena and winked, taking her by surprise and making her blush, though she had no idea why. Looking away, she noticed the nurse, fluttering nervously about the room with a similar rosy hue to her cheeks. _He just has that effect on people…well women. _Elena couldn't help but come to that conclusion. Reno was terribly attractive, she had to admit.

"Move each one individually," the doctor commanded, refusing to continue the pain medication argument. Reno obliged happily, bending each finger in turn and then happily giving the doctor the finger.

"Satisfied?" the redhead asked, feeling it was ok for him to put his arm down now. He set it gently on his stomach, relief clearly showing on his slightly gaunt face.

"Yes, that will be fine for now," the doctor said, nobly choosing to ignore Reno's obscene gesture, "On to the knee then."

"No!" Reno practically shouted, picking his head up off the fluffy white pillows, "No way. Not until you give me more morphine." A brief stare-down ensued.

"Hmm, yes that would be incredibly painful wouldn't it?" the man mused, not seeming overly disturbed by this fact, rather slightly…gleeful? With a sigh, he took a metal clipboard the nurse handed to him and began jotting notes in a scratchy handwriting, "Well it's early yet. You're off the hook for today. I'll be back tomorrow though. Try to contain your excitement." He gave a final sarcastic look at the redhead before handing the clipboard back to the nurse and exiting the room with a respectful nod to Tseng and Elena.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world!" Reno called after the departing doctor, then turned instantly to Tseng, "Get me out of here now. You promised if I trained the rookie you'd let me out."

"I said we would let you out early. I did not specify how early, and I certainly did not mean this early," Tseng said, extending his hand questioningly to the nurse, who handed him the clipboard, "You are not going anywhere until you are well on the road to recovery." The black-haired man examined the report the doctor had written carefully.

"Oh, come on. I spent a couple days in here, I'm not in critical condition anymore, what more do you want?" Reno argued, crossing his arms while taking great care not to jostle the bandaged one.

"Sit up," Tseng demanded suddenly, handing the clipboard back to the nurse with a smile. Reno stared back at him from the vast expanse of pristine white sheets and pillows.

"What?"

"Sit up," Tseng repeated, calmly folding his hands behind his back, standing straight and tall as always in his immaculate Turk uniform, "If you are well enough to leave the hospital, you can most certainly sit up."

"What if I don't want to?" Reno asked evasively, shifting his eyes away. Tseng smirked.

"It's going to hurt like hell if you sit up now, not only in your back. The movement would pain your knee as well at this point. You are most definitely not going anywhere."

Elena couldn't help but smile as Tseng easily backed up his point.

"What are you grinning about?" Reno demanded, his defeat making him slightly grumpy as he swiftly turned his attention to her.

"You act like a child," she said, the words leaping out of her mouth before she could stop them. Her eyes going slightly wide at what she had said, she looked quickly up at Tseng, afraid he would be angry. Far from it, Tseng chuckled.

"That he does," the man continued chuckling.

"You just wait until I get out of here," Reno told her, "You'll regret that. After all, _partner_, I'm the one who decides your training routine." He grinned like the Cheshire cat, easing back delicately into the pillows, unable to repress a cringe, "Now go away."

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"This is the gym, where most of your basic physical training will take place," Tseng had taken a route back to the offices that detoured past several of the areas they commonly used. All of them were on the same floor, or on one near it. "Being perfectly physically fit is taken rather seriously around here. You need to be in top shape. Not every mission requires such perfection, but there are many that would be extremely difficult, almost impossible otherwise. Also, your normal missions are most certainly not hindered by fitness. Obviously, being skilled in the use of various weapons is must as well. In this room," Tseng tapped on another door, "You can perfect your shooting, which I understand you are already good at." Elena nodded. Nothing like a great little pistol. She wasn't perfect, but she was definitely above average. "Excellent. You also need to be proficient in the use of several other weapons in addition to your basic fist fighting."

"Sounds like I'll be pretty busy," Elena commented, feeling she needed to say something to be polite.

"Hmm, yes you will be," Tseng mused, seeming lost in thought momentarily, "I think…we'll probably have Rude cover fist fighting with you. It's his area of expertise and I doubt Reno will be in good enough condition to spar with you anytime soon. And it will give you something to do until Reno heals enough to return to work."

"Good plan," Elena nodded, intimidated by knowing she'd have to face off with Rude at some point, but still relieved that there was one area at least where she wouldn't have to put up with the redhead. She almost shuddered, imagining what insulting and completely inappropriate comments he was capable of producing in such a situation.

"Well," Tseng said, as they arrived back at their offices, "There isn't anything else we need you for today. You can go home now. Keep in mind, once we actually get you started on training your days will definitely not be this short."

"I understand. See you tomorrow," Elena smiled at her boss before heading out of the Shinra headquarters.

_Author's Note: You like? xD Please drop me a review and let me know! Your thoughts and opinions are valued, usueful, and certainly appreciated! Thank you for reading!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: New chapter! I actually went over this briefly after I wrote it in an attempt to make it better, so please leave me a reivew and let me know if you think the writing is improved. Thank you! We have some fun in this chapter. =) Overall, it might be a little slow getting started, but this is going to be a fun story, I promise. xD I know it's an over-used idea, but I really wanted to do one so I'm doing it anyway. I'll just have to make sure it's interesting. So anywho, read, review, repeat, and most importantly....ENJOY!!!!_

Elena tried to refrain from groaning. Subtly glancing at the clock perched precariously on the off-white wall, she shifted once again in the stiff pine green chair. She looked over at the messy hospital bed her chair was pulled up next too. She was sure at one time it had been just as pristinely neat as your typical hospital bed was, but then again those hospital beds didn't have Reno living in them. The sheer number of wrinkles in the clean white sheets was enough to drive anyone mad. Elena was resisting the urge to straighten the whole thing, but strongly decided against it, glancing at the redhead laying there in front of her. Reno was still pretending to be asleep. She knew he was pretending since he'd told her he was going to. Apparently he was just as unhappy with this arrangement as she was. Elena leaned back in her chair with a small huff, recalling her earlier conversation with the Turk leader. _'You're going to be partners,' he says, 'You should get to know each other,' he says. Oh, I liked you until then, Tseng. You knew what a nightmare this was going to be too! _She had seen it in his eyes when he'd told her this morning that she would be spending the day with Reno. He knew very well what he was putting her through, and he was doing it anyway. It had hardly been an hour and she already wanted to shrink until she was invisible. The steady beeps emanating from the delicate-looking machinery littered around the bed drew her attention and she let her eyes flick over the screens of these machines, displaying various graphs and numbers which were constantly changing.

Reno turned his head, making the crisp sheets rustle lightly and cracked an eye open to look at her. With an irritated sigh, he turned away again, muttering something about her still being there. Elena stared at the back of his head for a minute. His blood-red hair was tossed over the pillows and his back, standing in stark contrast to the sheets and his pale skin. She could see the top of the gash on his back peeking out from underneath the covers. She grimaced, imagining how much that had to have hurt, and must still be hurting. She could tell it was stitched up, and was healing, but it still looked relatively new. She wondered how long ago Reno had landed himself in the hospital. He'd been in stable condition since she'd met him but he still looked fragile, sort of delicate as if he could be broken if you handled him too roughly. _What was he doing? _Elena mused. It had been implied that he was on a mission when this happened to him, but she was curious about what his mission had been, and what had gone wrong to make it end like this. With a sigh, she abandoned that train of thought, deciding it was leading her nowhere. She carefully tucked it away for later though.

Tseng hadn't even done her the favor of escorting her there. She'd had to find the room herself, which hadn't been much of a problem, Elena had always been pretty good at finding her way around. _Even in this building! _The halls all looked much the same, beige painted walls, white tiled floor, dark wooden doors, some with name plates, some without. _At least on the floors I've been on. _It could be different elsewhere, she didn't know. _After all the infirmary is different. Why not other areas? _The infirmary was all white, with the occasional exception for metal, just as one would expect out of a hospital.

Elena's gift of direction wasn't rewarded however. When she'd arrived in the room, Reno had rudely demanded what the hell she was doing there, and had gone through a string of curses colorful enough to make Elena color when he'd heard her 'mission' for the day. He'd then informed her he was going to pretend to sleep so he didn't have to talk to her. He'd proceeded to do just that, leaving them in the present situation. Endless awkward silence. Elena was staring at her hands, which rested in her lap primly. As much as Reno seemed to despise her presence, and as much as she was annoyed by him, he still counted as her superior and she couldn't forget that. _This is really an awful color. _She considered, examining the sickly pine green of the chair. _It's not like they picked it for comfort. _It had to have been the most uncomfortable place she'd ever sat. _The floor's probably more comfortable. _She turned her attention to the brilliantly clean white tiles. _It's not like they picked this chair to match the room either. It's all white! Anything would have matched…This is pathetic. You're discussing a chair with yourself. _

"So how long have you been a Turk?" she finally asked, deciding to make conversation if it killed her. _It probably will. Oh well, it's better than talking about a chair with yourself. _Reno ignored her at first, but just when she was giving up on receiving an answer, he turned to face her, aquamarine eyes bright.

"Several years," he said briskly, then stared up at the smooth ceiling, obviously not offering any more information.

"Ok. Look we both have to do this so you might as well not make it miserable," Elena said, annoyance and slight desperation in her voice. She rested her chin in her hand, setting her elbow on the arm of the chair.

"You think you're miserable?" Reno didn't move his eyes, but his voice was biting enough that she didn't need to added effect of the piercing blue, "Everything hurts like hell and now I have to put up with you too." He rubbed his forehead with his good hand and muttered, "Idiot doctors. Won't even give you a decent amount of pain meds around here." Elena didn't say anything, but she recalled the statement the doctor had made the previous day, _'Not with your history of addiction.' What was that supposed to mean? _She decided not to ask, but that didn't keep her curiosity from crawling all over it.

"So where are you from?" she asked, a pleasant thought occurring to her. Maybe her questions were just as annoying to him as his silence was to her.

"Midgar. At least I assume. It's the only place I remember," he answered, slightly less surliness in his voice. Was it possible he was being mature about it and accepting their fate?

"I was born here too," she replied, pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, hardly daring to hope that maybe he was going to be more cooperative now, "My parents don't live here anymore though. They moved to a small town a couple years ago."

"Mine are dead," Reno supplied in an emotionless voice, "Figured I'd save ya the trouble of asking. Everyone does sooner or later."

"Oh," Elena said, thrown off a bit by his strange behavior, "I'm sorry."

"I hate it when people say that," the redhead announced, the annoyance flickering back into his voice as he continued staring at the ceiling. With a huff of frustration, Elena leaned back and sunk lower in her uncomfortable chair, pulling out her cell phone and entertaining herself by playing the Tetris demo. She had given up on trying to have a conversation with that man. He was impossible.

The redhead yawned, taking no notice of her, and stretched his arms, making a tiny sound and grimacing as the muscles across his back pulled. A slender finger reached out and poked the button to call a nurse. Elena didn't move her head, but her eyes slid up, looking at Reno. She wondered vaguely if he was ok. He didn't look any different than he normally did, and he certainly wasn't screaming and writhing in pain or anything. With an internal shrug, she went back to her game. Before too long a curvy blonde nurse entered the room briskly.

"Did you need something?" she asked, with a dazzling smile.

"Nah, I just wanted to look at you, gorgeous" Reno said with a devious grin. Elena noted with disgust that his eyes weren't focused on the woman's face.

"Oh," the nurse blushed, subtly standing up a little straighter, "Well, um, I have other, boring stuff I have to do now, but um, I could come back later…if you like…" Elena rolled her eyes, wondering just how stupid this girl was to fall for Reno. _Not very…_the thought popped into her head involuntarily as she looked at Reno. Slapping herself mentally, she wrenched her eyes back to the game, biting her lip. _Stop it, retard. He may be hot but he's an jerk. _

"I'm not goin' anywhere," Reno said, winking, with a small laugh at his own joke. The nurse giggled and left, assumedly never even noticing Elena's presence.

"I can't believe they fall for your crap," she said, once the woman was gone.

"Ha, don't pretend you wouldn't," Reno said accusingly, carefully pushing every last tiny wrinkle he could reach out of the sheets.

"I don't have to pretend, I most certainly wouldn't," Elena assured him, snapping her cell phone closed and pocketing it again, leaning her elbows on her knees and resting her face in her hands.

"We both know you're lying," he turned to flash his irresistible smile to the blonde sitting in the chair pulled up next to the bed.

"I am not lying!" Elena raised her voice, grabbing the edge of the bed forcefully. She was beginning to get ruffled. _I wouldn't fall for him! _She told herself, but for some reason she kept blushing.

"Right," he said in a velvety voice, his long, graceful fingers elegantly tracing designs on the back of her hand, "Of course you wouldn't." Elena didn't say anything. She stared down at her hand awkwardly, the touch making her uncomfortable but at the same time she didn't want to get rid of it. It would have been so easy to simply pull her hand away, yet she couldn't. Or maybe she just didn't want to.

Quick as a flash, but gently all the while, Reno's hand slid up her arm to her elbow, pulling her close. At the same time, he leaned toward her until their noses touched and she could feel his warm breath on her face.

"Of course you wouldn't fall for any of this," he whispered, his voice smooth as silk, "Would you?"

"No," Elena managed to whisper, her eyes wide as saucers, "I wouldn't." But she made no move to pull back.

"Hmm," Reno grinned, then taking her chin delicately in his good hand, he put his mouth to hers. The touch was light as butterfly wings, so light Elena wondered if it was really there. Despite herself, her quivering lips pressed against his hot ones, dispelling any doubt if there really was contact or not. She almost thought she heard him laugh, but all thoughts were soon blown from her mind entirely as his lips began to move against hers. It briefly occurred to Elena, as Reno gently, but firmly forced her lips apart that she was going to faint, if not because she wasn't breathing, than because her heart had stopped. In the background she could hear the beeps from the machine. Was it her imagination or were they faster than before? She couldn't focus on anything but her tingling senses long enough to figure out.

Finally, regaining some measure of control, Elena pulled herself away. Breathing heavily, her face flushed, she just stared at the smirking redhead.

"Told you," he whispered, with an air of smugness. Elena sat frozen for a moment, her eyes wide, then she whirled out of her chair and practically ran out of the room. Once she was safely down the blindingly white hall, she paused momentarily around a corner to try and stop her racing heart. And figure out what the hell she was doing, what the hell she should do, and most importantly what the hell she had just done. _You just made out with him! What the hell, Elena? _She yelled at herself, feeling like her face was on fire. Suddenly noticing she was backed against a wall, in plain sight of everybody, she quickly kept walking, heading for the elevator. There was no way she could go back to that room now, no matter what Tseng said. She would just have to come up with a reason to stay away. _Oh, what have you done! _She moaned, realizing her entire career with Shinra was now going to be spent awkwardly with that memory. _You have to be his freakin' partner. _How was she supposed to face him now? It seemed to her that everyone in the hall was staring at her, as if they knew very well what she had just done. _No, you didn't do anything! It was completely his fault._

She continued encouraging herself with similar thoughts as she jammed the shiny elevator button anxiously. Wondering just what exactly she was going to say to Tseng to explain her early appearance, Elena wrung her hands nervously on the elevator ride. Conjuring up enough determination to keep her from hiding in a closet the rest of the day, she marched down the hall to Tseng's office with maybe a little more determination then was strictly necessary. Her firm footsteps got Rude's attention at least, and he curiously slipped away from his desk to peer down the hall after her. Drifting along after her, he loitered outside Tseng's open office door to see what her problem was.

"Um, he uh, was really tired and I thought it would be best to let him rest," Elena was saying brightly. _A little too brightly. _Rude stared at the back of her head, trying to pick up on just what exactly was wrong. _Reno, what have you done this time?_ He knew it must have been Reno, what else would it have been? Noticing the small frown forming on Tseng's face, Rude quickly stepped in.

"It's fine, I wasn't doing anything right now. I can spar with her," Rude said, receiving an almost pathetically grateful look from the blonde.

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"Ok, I'm not going to ask you what he did, but please just try to forget about it and focus so I'm not wasting my time," Rude said, once they were both in work-out clothes and in the training room. Elena hadn't spoken a word other than a few muttered 'thank you's as he'd shown her the changing rooms and the locker that would be hers, complete with perfectly sized work-out clothes.

"Sorry, I'll try," Elena still shifted from one foot to another nervously on the lightly padded floor, distracted by her earlier experience.

"Ok, I want to see what level you're at before I start teaching you anything," Rude took a defensive stance, "Pretend I'm Reno and beat the hell out of me." He grinned, a rare sight coming from the bald man. His idea worked however, Elena stopped fidgeting, seemed to consider this thought for a moment, then instantly faced off, taking a defensive position to begin with. He could see the hard look that had come into her eyes and decided she had had some previous experience with fighting. Also she was clearly upset or even angry with Reno.

The two Turks carefully and cautiously watched each other for several silent moments. _Hard guy to read, _Elena mused, _And the sunglasses aren't helping. _She was surprised that he kept them on for this. _What if he got hit? I can't imagine he wants sunglasses shards in his eyes…but that's only a problem if he's hit. Ok, he's got confidence. _Elena mentally went what she knew about him that could help her in this fight. He was clearly an excellent fist fighter. _Well might as well…_

Deciding her biggest advantages in this fight were her smaller build and, hopefully, swifter movements, Elena suddenly darted toward the man as if she were going to slip by on his right side to get behind him. At the last second, she lunged to the left, hoping to trick him. Calling her bluff perfectly, Rude brought one arm up to knock away the punch she had aimed for his head and with the other arm landed a firm punch in her gut. It was enough to push her away, but not enough to do more than wind her for a second. _Please be like the big guys in the movies…strong but slow! _Elena silently begged, jumping back in close as quickly as she could.

As their fight went on it became evident that Rude was not like the 'big guys in the movies'. He was quick and strong. Elena wasn't able to land a single blow for a solid twenty minutes, no matter how hard she tried.

"That's enough for now," Rude stated, not even breathing heavier than normal. Elena relaxed as he did, glad for the break so she could catch her breath which was coming faster than usual. "You're not bad. I can give you some pointers though," Rude stepped over to her, "Bring your fists up like you're going to hit me." He spent the next half hour giving her pointers on just about every aspect of fist fighting.

"Feel better?" Rude asked calmly, eyeing her with a tiny smile as they were leaving the gym.

"Hmm?" Elena looked up, wondering what he was talking about, and then it hit her, the redhead laughing in her face, very close to her face, "Oh….yeah, thanks." She looked away, afraid the memory would show in her eyes. She did feel better though and was thankful to Rude for helping take her mind off the incident and calm her down. A ringing noise drew her from her thoughts.

"Hello?" Rude answered his cell, listened for a moment and nodded, "Ok." Hanging up and slipping the device back into his pocket, Rude turned to the blonde, "Tseng says you can go home now, but be back at the same time tomorrow."

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow then. Thank you!" she called, almost sighing out loud with relief that she didn't have to face Reno again that day, although she didn't know how tomorrow was going to be any better.

_Author's Note: Did you like it? I liked it. =) Leave me a review full of your thoughts! Something you didn't like, something you did like, whatever you feel like saying. If you feel like leaving a review that says nothing but "cheese" in all capitals, go ahead. Who says the review has to be about the story? =) I mean, it's nice if it is, but there are no outlines for reviews! xD Sorry, I'm being so weird right now huh....well it's late and I've been up late for the longest time, getting little sleep and working hard so.....forgive me. =P Ok, show of hands, how many of you have blinked, and then FALLEN ASLEEP! It happened to me earlier today. I was reading this DULL book for school, and I was just going to blink, just a tiny little measly blink! I woke up twenty minutes later. T_T So.....yes. Has that ever happened to you? Anyway, hopefully I can update another chapter soon! Stick around, subscribe to author alert, story alert, whatever you need to do. =P YOU GUYS ROCK!!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: Ok, so I apologize if these chapters all seem the same to you, but they're still entertaining right? I'm trying my best. xD I promise we will make progress in the next chapter, in the meantime enjoy this one. =P I'm reading a couple really inspiring stories right now so hopefully that is helping/will help. I have big plans for this story, plans that I just realized I should probably think about in depth soon....lol Anyhow, I have to sleep now, as annoying as that may be. Here is a chapter for you guys, read it, review it, love it, hug it, never leave it.....uuuuhhhhh moving on. xD I look forward to reading and replying to all your reviews soon. ENJOY!_

"I'm sorry things are moving so slowly, but until Reno is released from the hospital there's not much for you to do," Tseng told Elena the next morning as she sat in his office, awaiting her assignment for the day. _This chair is so much more comfortable. _As strange as it was, this was the only thought running through her head. The dark red plush chair was certainly more comfortable than the green one from the infirmary. "On that topic, I would like for you to spend some more time with Reno again today. I went to see him yesterday before I left and he told me he'd really enjoyed that time. I knew he'd warm up to you, no matter how much he pretended to hate you at first." Elena was ripped far away from any thoughts of chairs by this statement.

"Really?" she said, with an excellently faked surprised sort of sweetness. _That little bastard! He's trying to get me trapped there with him again. _

"Yes, it's surprising coming from Reno, but he's full of surprises," Tseng only seemed slightly thrown off by the touch of fakeness in her speech and on her face, "As mean and heartless as he seems, when you get to know him you'll realize he does have a heart under it all. So anyway, you can go over there now. Maybe Rude can spar with you later." Tseng looked up as the very man in question came through the door, slightly faster than was usual.

"I'll go to the infirmary with Elena," Rude announced, glancing from the blonde to the Turk leader, "I wanted to see Reno for a moment."

"Very well," Tseng dismissed them both with a small wave of his hand. Elena could feel her heart sinking with every step she took out of Tseng's beautiful office and down that plain hallway.

"Thank you," she said, once they were in the shiny elevator. Rude simply nodded in response. Elena wondered if he had somehow figured out what had happened. _Reno wouldn't have told him…or would he? _She had no clue. This redheaded devil was an enigma, that was for sure. With a quiet ding, the elevator doors slid open smoothly and silently on the infirmary level.

"Mornin' sunshine!" Reno happily called as the downcast blonde entered his room, "Oh, ya brought back-up did ya?" He had caught sight of Rude, trailing behind her. Although his words revealed that he knew why Rude was here, his tone or the look on his face didn't change in the slightest from anything more than an amused cheerfulness.

Elena plopped down in that cramped pine green chair, crossed her arms and looked out the small window onto the gray city, refusing to even look at the redhead. She knew he was looking though, and she also knew her cheeks were burning which made matters worse.

"Ha, no more interrogation?" Reno poked her arm and pretended to be sad, "And I was so lookin' forward to it. What's up big guy?" He ignored Elena for the moment, turning his attention to the still silent man standing near the door. Rude didn't say anything, simply staring at Reno. Reno stared back, the overbearingly bright smile quickly turning to one of annoyance as he rolled his eyes and turned away.

"Aw, come on," he whined, "I'm just tryin' to have some fun in this shitty place." Rude remained silent. "Fine!" Reno said loudly, "I'll behave. Well, I'll try, but you know how I am. Uncontrollable." He grinned devilishly and looked at Elena when he said this. Feeling his glance on her, she flicked her eyes back towards him briefly, only to frown and look away again. She was a bit fascinated with how the two seemed to converse with only one speaking. Rude made a soft grunt, turning and walking out of the room.

"Damn," Reno complained, "He's no fun." Elena, despite herself, let her gaze slide over to rest on the redhead. He was frowning down at his hands, which rested lightly in his lap. He was sitting up a bit today, propped up on several fluffy white pillows. They looked awfully comfortable, and Elena wished she was back home in bed.

"He told me to stop botherin' ya, uh…what was your name again?" Reno supplied, turning his bright gaze on her suddenly.

"Elena," she said flatly, glaring at him. The memory from the previous day would not leave her alone. She'd had a hell of a time getting to sleep last night, and today wasn't going much better. She couldn't look at his face without remembering how close it had been. She couldn't hear him speak without feeling his lips against hers. She couldn't see his hands without recalling their soft touch against her skin. _Oh, stop it! _Elena resisted the urge to slap herself, violently shoving all such nonsensical thoughts from her head.

"Ah, 'Laney, right. I remember now," Reno was saying, nodding his head, "So 'Laney how ya likin' the job?" He watched her closely, an amused twinkle in his eyes and a smirk gracing his lips. It annoyed Elena to no end to know that he found her plight so hysterical.

"Um, it's nice," she was surprised that he was initiating a conversation, but went along with it anyways, "It's kind of fun and it pays the bills." _Alright, if he wants to think this is funny, fine, I'll just have to show him that I don't care. _She made a point of making eye contact, since before she had been avoiding looking at him.

"Wait until something serious happens," Reno momentarily lost his cheerfulness as he gave her a solemn look, "You won't think it's fun then. But it will still pay the bills. And that's why you'll stick with it. Besides, what the hell else are ya gonna do? Ya don't get paid this good for killin' people anywhere else." His eyes drifted off towards the end of the bed and Elena got the feeling he wasn't talking to her anymore. The situation became more and more awkward as silence continued pouring into the void between words. "What do ya think of Tseng?" Reno's mood has swung back to cheerful just as quickly as it had swung away.

Before Elena could answer, the door opened and the doctor Elena had seen on one of her previous visits entered, nodding politely to her and ignoring Reno.

"Hey, ya said ya was comin' yesterday," Reno accused, "Don't get my hopes up like that. I thought maybe ya'd finally walked off a cliff or somethin'."

"Nice to see you too, Reno," the doctor smiled, a charmingly fake smile as he looked up from the clipboard in his hands, "How are you doing?"

"Not dead yet," the redhead answered, turning slowly to the drip next to his bed, "But I'd be doin' better if ya would just-" The doctor cut him off.

"No! Ok, for the last time no!" It seemed as if the doctor might have finally lost his patience. "You will not get any more pain medication no matter how hard you ask. We've been over it a thousand times, and ultimately it's your own fault we can't safely give you more. So deal with it." Reno crossed his arms, delicately to avoid hurting the broken one, and pouted. He didn't say anything though, which Elena guessed was his way of accepting defeat. _Or maybe he's just waiting for the perfect moment to strike…_ She couldn't help but wonder if anyone had ever gotten the best of Reno. It wasn't an easy thing to imagine. She had almost completely forgotten the awkwardness of the previous day, distracted by Reno's conversations and the doctor's visit.

"Let's check on your knee," the doctor said in a moment, obviously much calmer now. Reno completely ignored the man, staring out the window as if no one were in the room but himself. The doctor rolled his eyes and pulled the sheets away, revealing very long legs clad in over-sized black sweatpants.

"Shit, it's cold in here," Reno announced, to no one in particular, rubbing his hands against his upper arms. He wasn't wearing a shirt, most likely for the convenience of looking after the wound on his back, Elena decided. She also decided that if she'd had any doubts previously as to Reno's attractiveness, they could all be forgotten. With those crisp clean sheets out of the way, she could fully admire the hardened, toned muscles over his abdomen and arms. He was definitely the lean type, not as bulky as Rude by far. Making a smart decision, Elena focused her attention on the cast on Reno's right knee. The pants leg was pushed up and it was evident that they'd tried to make the cast as non-bulky as possible. In fact, it looked like mostly just plain bandages, wrapped tightly around his knee and some of the leg above and below. There appeared to be a bit of plaster worked in around the actual knee to keep it from bending much.

The doctor poked and prodded, getting no reaction from Reno as far as Elena could tell. He didn't make a sound and any facial expressions were hidden from her as he was deliberately facing the other way. Delicately forcing Reno's knee to bend slightly, the doctor observed it carefully, continuing to poke and prod the whole time. He quickly stopped moving it as Reno uttered a sharp hiss, his leg jerking away suddenly.

"Sorry," the doctor said, making a quick note on his clipboard, "Can you move it back?" Reno straightened his leg out again, without a sound, but Elena could see how tense his shoulders were. "Good," the doctor said, smiling at Reno and tossing the sheets back up, "That's all for today. I'll be back though, don't worry."

"Yeah, try not to fall into any pits, or eat anything poisoned, or blow up in a fiery explosion, or drive into a lake, or jump of a bridge until then," Reno said sarcastically, wrapping the sheets back around himself with a tiny shiver. Elena glanced awkwardly away, realizing she'd been staring. She found herself looking up at the machine making the quiet beeps that represented Reno's heart. _Ha, so he does have one after all. _She laughed inside, nothing but a small smile showing through, as she remembered Tseng's comment from earlier.

"Wishin' it beat just for you, babe?" Reno commented blithely, noticing the direction of her gaze and the smile on her face.

"What?" Elena was jerked back to reality, confusion on her face and then a flash of understanding, followed by a little blush, "No." _Wow, awesome comeback, Elena. _She thought sarcastically, annoyed with herself for blushing. _I seem to be blushing an awful lot lately. _She refused to acknowledge the connection between this mysterious condition and Reno.

"Real convincing," he smirked, laying back among the fluffy pillows, "I'm takin' a nap now so you can hang around and be all creepy like that, or you could go do somethin' else. I'm not sayin' ya have to go back to Tseng, do whatever ya want. Just tell him you were here the whole time."

"Actually I was going to spar with Rude more once I left," Elena said, trying to demonstrate that she had important things to do other than sit around and be toyed with.

"Oh, do you now?" Reno seemed interested, turning his head toward her and pushing the pillows down with his hand to have an unobstructed view of her face, "Found his weakness yet?"

"No," she said, wondering if she should feel embarrassed to not have made this accomplishment. _I'm sure it would be an accomplishment, does the guy even have a weak point? _"Do you know it?"

"Obviously," Reno said, leaving Elena pondering how exactly this fact was obvious, "We all know each other's weakness. It's part of bein' a good team. And I'm not sure why, but Shinra's all into us doing that teamwork shit. As far as I'm concerned, knowing that stuff just helps me beat them up better." He grinned.

"Well I guess I'd better keep my eyes open for weaknesses," Elena said absentmindedly, mentally reviewing her sparring match with Rude from the day before, trying to locate any signs of a weakness.

"Hmm, whatever," the redhead yawned, wrapping long arms around himself, "You can go away now."

"Nice seeing you too," Elena said sarcastically, glad to be freed from that awful chair, and glad to escape before any repeat performances of the previous day could occur. Or was she so glad about that? _That merits some thought….No! You're happy, you don't want him to take advantage of you. _

As she left the room and walked down the white hall, Elena was startled to find the nurse from the day before glaring daggers at her. _What did I do? _She wondered, leaning against the elevator wall after firmly pressing the button for her floor. Perfectly synched with the ding that sounded when the metal doors slid open, it hit her. _She's jealous! _Rather than thoughts of how absurd that was, a sort of smugness welled up inside, leaving Elena with a bit of a smirk of her own. She quickly killed that feeling though, focusing her attention on all that Rude had taught her at their earlier training session. She knew she would be expected to remember it all perfectly, and she fully intended to meet all expectations they had of her here. Either that or exceed them. It's just who she was, and how she worked.

"I'm ready whenever you are," Elena said, feeling no need to announce herself this time as she poked her head into Rude's office. He nodded, not even taking his eyes away from the computer screen as he finished typing something. Standing up, he walked out of the room and back down the hall with her in the direction of the gym.

_Author's Note: Here you are, end of the update, what are you going to do now? Does if have anything to do with the greenish button on the bottom of this page? (Hint: Yes is the right answer!) =) I'm special guys, accept it, embrace it. Anyway, any thoughts or feelings on this chapter are appreciated. Suggestions are also taken, ideas, things you'd like to see, whatever. I try to work things in if someone wants something special. Of course, I can't completely change my story plot, but if you want a line here or there, that's cool. xD I'll do my best. Anyway! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's Note: WOOT SUPER LONG CHAPTER! =) The reason it's so big is because I decided to update every Friday night instead of haphazerdly. So we'll see how that goes. I can't promise I'll stick with it, but we shall see. Anyway, I love this chapter, a lot of fun stuff happens and as you'll see we break away from the monotony! Let me know how you guys like it, I've been trying extra hard lately to make it better....writing-wise. So feel really smart while you read this and come up with something deep and insightful to say in your review. =P _

Elena had just exited the locker room when her cell began to ring. She'd been cleaning herself up after another sparring match with Rude.

"Elena, come to my office as soon as possible," Tseng's voice said, the words sounding urgent but his tone kept her from freaking out. He spoke just the same as he did on any other given day, and there was even a hint of joviality about.

"I'll be there in a minute," she replied, deciding it was nothing to be concerned about. She snapped the device closed and slipped it back into her jacket pocket. Glancing around at the beige hallway that had once seemed so unfamiliar, she thought about the number of times she'd walked up and down this same hall. _Probably hundreds. _It had been several weeks since that first day. Her training was taking much longer than it should just because she lacked someone who had the free time to go over everything with her. She sparred with Rude almost daily, which was always something she looked forward to. The man was nice, in his quiet way, and working with him had greatly improved her skill. That was only one arena though, and the Turks were rightly expected to be proficient in a huge variety of skills. Tseng made sure she spent a few hours with Reno everyday too. She wasn't sure exactly why he did this, but she knew he had a good reason. Or she hoped he did anyway. It was hard to get along with the redhead. One day he never ceased teasing her, some days he slept practically the entire time she was there, and others he would randomly speak up with bits of advice or just sit there in silence. The man used to drive her completely crazy, and he still did most of the time, but Elena felt she might be getting used to him just a bit.

"What's he want?" Elena asked Rude, who was just leaving his office as she passed, apparently on his way to see Tseng as well. Rude shrugged, and fell into step beside her. She liked Rude. Everyone was nice of course. _Well, Reno's an exception to that. Or maybe not._ _Reno is…odd. _She reflected. Some days he was almost nice, but then he would always make sure to say something to completely shatter the 'nice' effect. She shook her head. Just thinking about him gave her a headache sometimes. He was impossible to figure out. But other than him, everyone definitely fell into the nice category. Tseng however, was her boss. He told her what to do, and watched her to see how she did it. He was nice, but made her nervous sometimes. Rude was always looking out for her. Quietly showing her how to do something, or where something was. If she had a question, she always went to him, and she hardly had to ask, he always seemed to know.

"Ah, here you are," Tseng greeted the two Turks when they came into his office, motioning for them to take seats, "How are you doing, Elena?" He turned his attention on the blonde girl, setting his pen down and delicately folding his hands on the mahogany desk in front of him.

"Good, sir," she answered automatically, used to answering this question, or some form of it, frequently.

"Excellent. The sparring with Rude is going well, I presume?" he gestured toward the other man who sat silently in his seat, looking out the window as long as he wasn't being addressed.

"Wonderful, it's very helpful and I feel like I've improved."

"She has," Rude said simply, not taking his eyes off the grey skyline visible from the large floor-to-ceiling windows on one side of the room, which allowed a bright light to pervade the room.

"I understand your training has not been going as quickly as any of us would like, but hopefully that will change soon," Tseng said with an almost smug smile, "Reno's being released from the infirmary today."

As if on cue, the redhead burst loudly into the room, leaning on a single crutch and obviously favoring his injured leg. His hair was in complete chaos, pulled into the usual messy ponytail, loose strands falling around his face. He was wearing the Turk uniform, an extremely wrinkled and tie-less version anyway. It appeared too big for him, making him look even skinnier than he already was. He left several buttons at the top unbuttoned too. Dark colored goggles were pushed high up on his forehead, holding the red hair out of his eyes.

"Nobody say anything," he hissed, glaring at them all with piercingly bright aqua eyes, "Not a word." He promptly collapsed in a chair, his right leg stretched out and only bending slightly. He leaned on his good arm, tossing the crutch away carelessly so it clattered noisily to the floor.

"Looks like someone's off his pain medication," Tseng smiled, angling his chair to face Reno.

"Ha, as if they gave me enough in the first place," Reno spat back angrily, "I see ya felt the need to gather a damned greeting committee." He cast his glare over Rude and Elena.

"Well, I felt your return to us concerned them as well since their daily routine will be drastically affected," Tseng replied, totally un-phased by Reno's behavior.

"Nice to have you back," Rude said calmly.

"Ugh, I can't decide which is worse," Reno mumbled grumpily, "Bein' stuck in that hell-hole or bein' back at work."

"Don't worry," Tseng reassured the redhead, but there was a smile on his face which told them what he was saying might not exactly comfort the man, "Since you are still recovering obviously, we won't have you on any missions. If you remember, your new task is to train Elena. She's already covered basic hand-to-hand combat with Rude, but they only really went over the use of fists."

"Oh joy, I hope you're ready," Reno gave Elena a look that would have frozen Sephiroth in his tracks. She gulped, once again re-thinking her career choice.

"Um, I am. I think," she replied, her voice slightly more high-pitched than she would have liked.

"So, I can't be bothered with organized everything for you, so you decided what to do and when," Tseng told Reno, picking his pen up off the desk, "Now I have things that must be attended to…" They took their cue, all standing up to leave. Rude picked the crutch up off the floor and carefully handed it to Reno. The redhead was standing alright on his own, leaning on his good leg, but would have a hell of time trying to walk without help.

"I could have gotten it," Reno muttered, taking it anyway with a brief look of relief before it was wiped away and replaced with his sour look.

"Try 'thank you' next time, Reno," Tseng corrected him like a mother would her child, and held a handful of folders out to Rude, "Here are some of the missions that you can handle by yourself, we'll take care of certain more complicated assignments later." Rude took the offered files and with a sympathetic look at Elena, left the room.

In despair, she followed Reno out of Tseng's office. She continued following him, assuming that's what she should do. It's not like he gave her instructions, all she heard out of him was a continuous stream of not-so-muttered curses. _Grumpy much? _She rolled her eyes, glad he couldn't see her, but almost wishing he had.

"Can't believe I get stuck training the rookie," he jerked the door to the gym open, having to use his healing arm. He grimaced and cursed again, rather colorfully. Elena blinked, wondering why he hadn't just asked her to get the door.

"I'm not that bad," she muttered in her defense, earning nothing but a glare from Reno.

"Are you now? Well we'll just have to see how good ya are before I waste my time teachin' ya anything," he grinned, with more than a hint of maliciousness, dropping heavily into a chair against the wall, "First off, hundred push-ups, now." He pointed a single long, slender finger to the floor.

Deciding it was in her best interest to not say anything, Elena did as she was told, admittedly with a touch of despair. _Is it going to be like this all the time? _

One hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, and countless chin-ups later, Elena dropped to the floor, sitting there motionless, just glad she wasn't moving anything. The only thing that kept her going at this point was her desire not to be mocked. If she felt herself slowing down, she stole a glance at that smirk and a whole new determination filled her veins. _It's not that bad! _She encouraged herself, _Not once all your muscles are numb anyway. _She wasn't sure what the rest of them considered a normal work-out, but she definitely wasn't a wimp. She had a decent amount of muscle, enough to put her above most women, but not enough to make her figure any less delicate.

"Hmm, I guess that's good enough for now," Reno stated, oddly enough his mood seemed to get better and better the more she worked. Now that she was exhausted he seemed satisfied, "I think maybe you should run laps now." She looked up at him. _He's got to be kidding. _He didn't look it though. His eyes sparkled evilly, and he pointed to the oval track following the edges of the room. "Don't just sit there, get going. You can stop when I tell you to." _He's serious. _One look at the triumphant smirk was enough. He thought he'd worn her out. Dragging herself to her feet, she started at a jog, gradually taking it to a run. _At least my legs aren't really tired…yet. _Who knew how long he was going to make her run? She paced herself carefully, ready to last as long as she needed too.

Elena had no idea how long she'd been running. All she knew was her legs were numb and had fallen into a comfortable rhythm. _As comfortable as it's going to get anyway…_A terrible thought hit her and she tried to get a good glance at Reno as she ran around the track. What if he'd fallen asleep? It was likely, he'd fallen asleep plenty of times when she was forced to sit in that room with him everyday. _He wouldn't just…fall asleep and leaving me running would he? Yes, he would. _Just as she was risking slowing down to check, his bright voice called out to her.

"Sprint." That was all he said. _At least he's awake. _Elena sighed, and picked the pace up, increasing her speed steadily until she was all out sprinting as fast as she could. After awhile she began to honestly believe her lungs were going to explode and she was going to die right there, right then. It was only at this point that Reno lazily called out that she could stop. Gratefully coming to a slow jog, she waited until she'd caught her breath before completely stopping.

"What else?" she asked, her voice fairly dead. Reno looked up at her from his cell phone, slight surprise showing on his face before being obliterated by a familiar smirk. Elena didn't even care at this point, she was tired and just wanted to collapse.

"Uh, I guess you can go home now," he said, picking himself up out of the chair with a bit of difficulty, "Tomorrow we'll really get working." Leaving her with this comforting goodbye, Reno left the room. Elena didn't know where he was going and didn't care. She knew she was going home, hitting the shower and then bed. Food could come later.

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"How's it going?" Rude asked Elena the next day, meeting her as she was coming out of Tseng's office. Their boss had just smiled at her carefully mild description of the previous day's training and had told her Reno could be found in his office.

"Ha," Elena cast Rude a sour glance, "Saying I'm sore would be an understatement. Please, tell me, is he exaggerating or is this really necessary?" Rude thought a moment before slowly answering.

"We always work the trainees extra hard," he explained, "You won't need the strength, speed, and endurance that you are going to be capable of every day on every mission. But on the missions you do need it on, you'll need it. We all went through the same thing and are very careful to keep it up. When he's done with you, he'll have you ready for everything. Experience will be the only thing you'll lack, but you'll have all the skills to deal with whatever we throw at you. Don't get lazy when training's over though, you never know when you're going to be in trouble." He tapped her on the head playfully, and walked on down the hall, disappearing into his office without another word after his small speech.

Elena stood there, staring thoughtfully at the cream-colored ceiling, considering all that her co-worker had told her. _Ok, I get it. I can do this. _With a new-found spring in her step, she quickly found Reno's office, not too far down the hall from Rude's, and rapped on the closed door.

"What?" The lazy voice was impossible to mistake. She opened the door and stood there awkwardly, momentarily speechless by the difference between this office and that of her co-workers' and her own. Instead of clean, organized desks in a neat room with a few chairs, bookshelves, with the occasional lamp in the corner or a potted plant, Reno's office looked like some kind of disaster area that you would expect to find roped off with yellow tape. He had the same desk they all had, but somehow he managed to make it look like something one would find in a junkyard. It was covered in stacks of papers, most coffee stained, and various other objects that definitely did not seem as if they belonged there, including a can of florescent orange spray paint. The only area on the whole surface that was clear was the keyboard and the space directly in front of it. The super-slim computer monitor was barely visible from where she stood, but a path had been cleared so it could be seen from the chair Reno sat in behind the desk. She could count at least three coffee mugs on the desk, not to mention those on the shelves and one that sat in a chair. Eyeing the bullets scattered and lost between papers, she wondered exactly how safe it was to really be in the room. Who knew what else was hidden in the corners?

"Whadda ya want?" Reno demanded, a smoldering cigarette dangling from his lips. He didn't look any different than he had the day before, suit just as wrinkled as ever, except he appeared to be feeling better. _He's got more color_. Elena picked out the difference before responding to his rude question.

"Well, you're supposed to be training me," she said, fixing her gaze on an empty glass bottle on the shelf. She was surprised to discover it was a beer bottle, and wondered how he got away with drinking at work.

"Damn, that's right," he sighed, snuffing out the cigarette in an ashtray on the floor, "I forgot."

Elena's eyes traveled up to the ceiling, where the tips of several pencils were lodged firmly, making the ceiling appear as some sort of inverted spike pit.

"That's hard to do," Reno commented, noticing the direction of her gaze, "Rude never could get it right. One day I went in his office and threw a couple up there. Tseng saw 'em and Rude got lectured." Reno laughed quietly to himself, flicking a stray strand of blood-red hair out of his eyes as he dug around his desk, looking for something.

"He got in trouble? Why don't you get in trouble?" Elena asked.

"Tseng never comes in here," the redhead replied, lazily watching a stack of papers he'd jostled fall over, fluttering gently to a littered heap on the floor, "Says he's afraid he'll get some kind of disease. It's not that messy." Reno shook his head, but brightened up when he found what he was looking for. Not really bothering to count, Reno threw back a couple of the pain pills, swallowing them dry, and slipped the bottle into his pocket.

"K, let's go," he stood up, using his good arm to lean on the desk, and gingerly took a step, "Dammit, that's not gonna work," He cringed and quickly took the weight off his right leg, sort of sitting on the edge of his desk and glancing around the room for his much-abused crutch.

"I could…help…you," Elena suggested weakly, knowing all she was going to get for her charity was glares, but not able to stop herself from offering assistance. She was right, of course, earning an evil look.

"I don't need help," he said bitingly. Finding the elusive object, Reno grabbed it and headed for the door. As she had the day before, Elena followed him, feeling the annoyance radiating off of him.

"Damned AVALANCHE." She barely heard him mutter, wondering what he meant. Was the terrorist group up to something again? She hoped not. Last time was awful enough.

When they approached the gym, Elena, remembering the day before, reached out and opened the door before he could get it. She didn't want him to have to use his injured arm. As usual, she only got a glare and more muttered cursing for her trouble. _Why do I even bother? _She wondered, rolling her eyes and following him in. She knew why though, it wasn't in her nature to just stand by while someone else struggled with something. She knew, despite the non-prescription painkillers he took so liberally, it was bound to hurt if he used the still healing arm.

Today's training was much the same, with a few new elements thrown in. He didn't work her quite as hard as the previous day, only he made her lift weights too. As an added bonus, he would throw random objects at her no matter what she was doing and expect her to avoid them somehow. Finally, seeing her phone fly past as she was running laps, she decided it was the last straw and shot her hand out with a speed that surprised herself. Catching the phone and the pen that came directly after it, she turned, running backwards, to send the pen spinning through the air back at the redhead.

"Stop touching my stuff!" she shouted, hanging on to her phone as she ran. He didn't respond, but nothing flew at her anymore. Eventually he called for her to stop, smiling happily as she came to stand in front of him. "You can go home. After you pick all this stuff up." He spit his tongue out and turned on his heel, slowly and awkwardly leaving the room on his crutch.

"Jerk," Elena muttered once Reno was out of earshot, tired as ever, as she stared over the floor, littered with all many of throw-able objects from a basketball to the contents of an entire book of matches. _Or several books of matches._ With a sigh, she got down on her knees and proceeded to pick up the projectiles that had been aimed for her all day.

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"Could we do something different today?" Elena asked, delicately lifting a coffee mug out of the cleanest of the chairs and setting it on the ground, since there was no other available surface, "Is that a bullet hole?" She asked, looking up at the small hole in the ceiling as she sat down in Reno's office.

"Yes," Reno answered, lighting up a cigarette and tossing the lighter over his shoulder, "That is a bullet hole. I forgot to turn the safety on." He picked his pistol off a stack of papers with a swiftness that Elena found abnormal. He frowned, apparently noticing something, and carelessly flipped the tiny switch. "Forgot again." Reno grinned, setting the gun down again. _At least he didn't throw it too. _She watched him as he kicked back, setting his good leg up on the desk and lazily blowing a stream of smoke from between his lips.

"You never answered my question," Elena mentioned, watching his mouth.

"Yeah, I did," he answered, slender fingers plucked the cigarette from his lips as he turned to look at her with a small frown.

"No, I asked if we could do something different today," she clarified, taking her eyes off him and sending them roving about the room now that he was looking at her. It had been about a week since she had started her training with Reno and so far he had made her do just about the same thing every day. She was getting very tired of it. However, she didn't fail to notice that despite her eternal soreness it was getting easier and easier to meet his demands every day.

"Like what?" Reno grabbed a stray pen and carefully stuck it back in the penholder, even though said holder was laying on it's side with most of the pens spilling out. Apparently this didn't bother him as he didn't stand it up again, only slid the pen back in on top of it's fellows.

"I don't know, just something besides lap running, or weight lifting, or push ups."

"Ok," Reno surprised her by agreeing instead of coming up with some absurd reason why they couldn't, "How good are you with a gun?"

"Let me show you," she replied, feeling a tad smug since she was an excellent shot. Reno flicked his cigarette into the ashtray that still maintained it's position on the floor. Before he stood up, he started looking around. Knowing by now that he hated help, Elena carefully nudged the crutch toward him with her foot. It was on the floor as usual, but a bit far out of his reach.

"I saw that," he warned, giving her a frown as he picked up the object and pulled himself to his feet.

"Ok, here we go, our own personal indoor shooting range," Reno hurried to open the door before Elena could get to it, apparently not caring that it hurt his arm.

The room was rectangular and huge, not very wide but stretching far, probably taking up a decent amount of this floor. Brilliant white lights flickered on all the way back, lining the edges where the walls met the floor and ceiling. The section of the room they were in was small compared to the rest, but still decently sized. It had to be to fit the massive array of firearms stored neatly in racks. Bullet proof glass encased these racks and appeared to require an a card of some kind to open. The rest of the room was portioned off by a wall of this special glass with doors here and there. The walls of the room were thick, a layer of metal topped by a layer of bullet proof glass.

"This room is fun," Reno acted like a child in a toy store, turning his excited face to Elena just briefly before turning back to the vast array of guns spread out before him. For some reason, the scenario scared Elena a bit. "But we're gonna stick with somethin' simple for now." He stuck his ID card into the scanner and when the case slid open, he picked up the standard pistol used by the Turks. "Ya know the basics of usin' a gun, right?"

"I know more than the basics," Elena pointed out, taking the gun from him with the comfort of familiarity.

"Ok then," Reno smirked, as if expecting her to get stumped, "You're gonna need ammo." He gestured towards racks and racks of every kind of ammunition one could ever need. Reno made no move to select some, so Elena moved forward with a smug smile, sliding her own ID card and picking out the correct ammo with ease. Loading the gun quickly, she waved towards the glass doors.

"Shall we?" They went through the separating wall into the huge space beyond.

"Don't wanna bust your eardrums," Reno mentioned merrily, tossing her a pair of earmuffs and putting some on himself. "Shoot 'em." He said simply, stepping over to a panel with several buttons. He tapped a few swiftly with delicate fingers and watched as about one hundred targets sprang up over the entire field, at a good range of distances. He continued watching closely, both the targets she shot and her as she fired the gun. After she'd hit them all, she slipped the earmuffs down around her neck as Reno had done and looked at him for praise.

"You're good but not great." That was not what she had been going for. Apparently excellent wasn't good enough.

"What?"

"You're good, you hit them all in a decent amount of time too, but you didn't get a perfect bulls-eye every time and your posture was all messed up. What does that mean anyway? Bulls-eye. That's just weird. Why is it called that?" Reno looked genuinely concerned about this topic, considering it deeply for all of five seconds, "Ok, whatever. I don't care. The point is you're not gonna get any better holding the gun like you do. Let me show you." Reno hit a few buttons, causing the same set of targets to rise again. Letting the crutch fall to the ground, he took the gun from her hand, standing perfectly straight without favoring his wounded knee. He proceeded to hit every single target dead center in, at most, half the time she took. "You should be doin' it like that." He handed the gun back, not saying a word about his leg, but the pain showed clearly on his face.

"You're really good," Elena said, knowing she sounded a little dumb, but not really caring after the amazing display she'd just seen. She'd thought she was good. Obviously she had work to do.

"Yeah, I know," Reno was getting irritated fast, she guessed his temper was shortened dramatically when he was in pain, "Now hold it like this." Without the slightest hesitation, he put his arms around her, his face right next to hers and put his hands over hers, adjusting them to where he wanted them. "There." He backed away, awkwardly since he was trying not to put weight on his right knee. Elena just stared at her outstretched arms, holding the gun as Reno had, feeling a jolt run threw her body. Resisting the urge to shiver, she frowned at the gun, quickly taking down the targets Reno had set up.

"Well now you're screwin' it up," Reno sighed. She hadn't made a single bulls-eye. She wasn't surprised, she hadn't expected to make any since her nerves had just been oh-so-kindly set on the fritz. "Whatever, I suppose you'll get it eventually." Reno now found himself in an interesting predicament. He needed his crutch off the floor, and he couldn't get it without bending down and that would be difficult to do while keeping his leg in a position that wouldn't send stabbing pains through the whole thing. Elena noticed, and quickly leaned over to pick it up, holding it out to him.

"You could have just given it to me to hold you know," she mentioned. She wasn't expecting the outburst she got in return for her kindness.

"What is it with you people? I can take care of myself!" he practically shouted at her, the words seeming so much bigger as they echoed in the huge room, "I've done it my whole life, what makes you think I can't now?" He glared at her, refusing to take the crutch and still standing with weight on his knee. Elena was surprised, but managed to reply fairly quickly.

"I'm not implying you can't take care of yourself," she said quietly, still holding the crutch out to him, "It's just that you don't have to. There are people around you who are happy to help you." He didn't say anything but continued to glare at her. A flicker of something passed in his eyes before being carefully hidden away again.

"Shoot the gun right tomorrow," Reno said, taking the crutch and leaving the room.

_Author's Note: So what did you think? Let me know! It's only a click away! xD Thank you guys so super much for reading, without I wouldn't be writing for anyone! Well I'd probably still write for myself.....but my author's notes would be to myself which would be strange......o_O Ok, so thanks for reading and keep it up. =P LOVE YOU GUYS!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Author's Note: Update! Ok, so this one isn't as long, I had some moments of weakness and didn't write several nights this week. =( It's still an update though and a decent length if I'm not mistaken! So feel free to read the last paragraph of the previous chapter before reading this one. That's what I always do if I have to wait more than like a day between chapters. Just to refresh my memory! Make sure to let me know what you thought! All comments are appreciated. xD Thank you guys so much for reading!_

Elena stood nervously outside Reno's office door. She couldn't get up the courage to knock. _What if he's still angry? _He had yelled at her yesterday, but she didn't know if he was the type to hold a grudge, or let it go. She was leaning toward the hold a grudge type. _So do I knock or go back to my office and see if he comes looking for me? _Her mental debate was interrupted by the very door in question flying open. Reno leaned in the doorway, red hair falling in front of bright aqua eyes, a small smirk on his lips.

"How long are ya gonna stand there?" he asked in a lazy drawl, "I've been sittin' here wonderin' what the hell you were up to."

"You knew I was here?" she asked, a wave of surprise overlapping the first she'd experienced when the door flew open in her face.

"Yup. You're kinda loud," Reno grinned, "And I heard ya. So you comin' in or not?" He backed aside, making room for her to walk past. When he took just one step like that, you could hardly notice the way he limped.

"Uh, yeah," she breezed past him swiftly, trying her best to be as quiet as possible. _Am I really so loud?_ She wondered, seating herself abruptly in her usual chair.

"Not silent yet," he said. Elena could have sworn she heard him laughing quietly as he closed the door and limped awkwardly back to his chair.

"I feel like an old person," he complained, flopping into the seat with no grace whatsoever, "Can't walk right, can't twist my back hardly without makin' everythin' hurt. Sucks." He was quiet for a minute, staring into a mug which probably contained coffee from several days ago, at best. Somehow there never was a cup with fresh coffee in it although Reno drank about a gallon of it every morning. _I wonder where they all go…_ Elena wondered, having visions of coffee mugs hiding in the oddest nooks and crannies all over the Shinra headquarters building.

"Ok, so ya gonna shoot that gun right today or should I not even bother leavin' this chair?" Reno leaned back putting his hands behind his head for about two seconds before grimacing and grumpily bringing them to rest on the desk instead.

"Well," Elena considered as she watched his long, delicate fingers fiddle restlessly with a shiny black pen, "Maybe you should come and see how I'm doing." She finally settled on an answer, not sure if she was doing it 'right' yet or not and certainly not wanting to assume she was if she really wasn't. She could only imagine the outburst Reno was likely to have if this was the case. With a tremendous sigh, the redhead rolled his eyes and stood up, leaning all his weight on his good leg.

"Fine, we'll see how the rookie's doin'," he began to look around as usual, but then glowered and headed for the door with a dismissive wave of his hand, "Screw it, I can walk just fine." He was able to walk, with a rather severe limp, but nothing that kept him from moving at a decent pace. Elena followed, unsure if she should let him, but quickly realized there was nothing she could do anyway. _As if he'd listen to me. _

Elena held the gun lightly in practiced hands. She watched patiently as Reno tapped a few buttons on the slim control panel, bringing up a set of targets different than those she'd been using the day before. These, like the previous ones, were spread all over the vast space, some far, some near. Unlike the others, which had been fairly large, these were about the size of a dinner plate. Not tiny, but have fun hitting that at eighty yards. She turned to look at Reno, who looked incredibly relaxed, to contrast her tenseness. He leaned against the wall, taking the weight of his leg, and smiled charmingly.

"Go ahead, blow me away."

"What is your problem?" she hissed, glaring at him, "Look how tiny that is, this far away. Of course I can't hit all of _those_." She pointed out towards the targets in the back.

"You can't if you tell yourself that," he spit his tongue out at her and leaned his head back, "Come on, I don't have all day. Well I do, but I don't want to waste it all here."

Elena sighed and turned back to the field of targets before her. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She found it incredibly helpful to pretend Reno wasn't here. It didn't help when he began to whistle the _Jeopardy _theme. She cast him a withering glare, to which he responded to with a wink, and kept whistling. Choosing not to say anything,, Elena concentrated on the targets. _Come on, you're an excellent shot. I know you can do this if you try hard enough. Don't worry about speed, just worry about hitting them for now. _Taking aim, Elena fired repeatedly, doing her best to hit every target.

"Ya missed a couple," Reno pointed out when she was done, "But you're holdin' it right now."

"Of course I missed some, these closer ones aren't a problem but those back there? Insane," Elena huffed, only slightly cheered up by the fact that she had been declared 'holding it right'. Reno pushed off the wall lazily with his shoulder and walked over, somehow managing to make limping look like he was just being lazy. Taking the gun out of her hand without a word, Reno carelessly shot every target dead center, even those at an 'insane' distance. He made it look like he wasn't trying. Elena even thought she saw him yawn.

"It's not impossible," he went back over to the small control panel and proceeded to give her a crash course in it's operation. It was simple enough, and she was certain she could make it do whatever she needed. "So there," Reno finished up his explanation, "Use targets the size of a flyin' saucer, about as big as a quarter, or just get a machine gun and mow stuff down, I don't give a damn. Knock yourself out. Be better tomorrow." Leaving her on a strangely funny but serious note, Reno walked off again, just like yesterday.

Elena watched him go, wondering what he did all day. Sighing, she set the targets to the size she'd been using before and shot away, slowly working her way down towards the small ones. By the time she decided to call it a day, Elena's arms were sore and her eyes stung. Her ears were ringing slightly too. As she was walking down the beige hallway, she almost literally ran into Tseng.

"Ah, Elena," he stopped to talk to her, "I've been meaning to speak with you. How is your training going? Where's Reno?" He glanced around, a small frown on his face at not seeing the redhead.

"I don't know where he is," Elena answered, "He left me to practice on my own. It's going fine though. Reno seems to have a thing for pushing the limit though. He makes everything so much harder everyday." Elena stopped herself before she got into an all out rant. She was a little embarrassed for having said as much as she did in front of her boss. Tseng didn't seem to mind though, he smiled.

"Yes, well Turk standards are incredibly high. Also Reno tends towards impatience. He never spent long training on anything, and there were some areas he never trained in at all. You wouldn't think it to look at him, but Reno's naturally talented at so many of the skills we pursue here. Though his impatience and overall attitude do not make him the best of teachers by far, he knows what he's doing. And neither Rude nor myself can be spared at this time. So please, don't let him bother you," Tseng smiled and moved to keep walking but stopped, "Oh, Reno recovers from injuries very quickly, much more quickly than normal, but he's still incredibly impatient. His mood is probably not being helped because of his recovering injuries."

"Ok," Elena nodded, carefully thinking over and mentally filing away all that Tseng had said. Tseng nodded and walked on. Everything he'd said made plenty of sense, except for one thing. _Why does he heal so much faster than normal? _It was certainly not a bad thing, but Elena a massive curiosity, she couldn't stand to not know the reason for anything. And this was torture, because how the hell was she supposed to find out the reason for this one?

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The weeks passed, everyday following much the same pattern although it didn't feel like it because of Reno's constantly changing moods. Some days he hardly said a word to her and made her feel guilty for existing, and others he simply wouldn't shut up, going on and on, covering everything from exciting stories from previous missions to mundane office gossip. It was through the latter that Elena learned an interesting tidbit about everyone who was anyone working for Shinra. It seemed everybody had something to hide and Reno knew it all. He definitely had his opinions about people and he wasn't afraid to share them. The downside was that Elena had difficulty passing anyone in a hallway or meeting someone in an elevator without having to stifle a laugh.

"Not bad," Reno grinned as Elena lowered the two pistols she'd been holding, one in each hand, "But I could do better."

"Really?" Elena looked at him doubtfully, "I just shot twenty small moving targets in sixty seconds, all relatively close to the center. Beat that."

"Well if you insist," the redhead spit his tongue out at her and hopped off the floor where he'd been sitting. Tseng hadn't been lying when he'd said the man healed quickly. It had quite some time since he'd been released from the hospital, but an average person would still be healing, certainly not jumping around as Reno had been the past couple of days. Of course, he still wasn't 100% but he hardly every did anything that hurt anymore. Taking the pistols from her with a wicked grin, Reno twirled them in his hands like in a movie and then shot every single target dead center in half the time she took. He grinned, giving the guns back to her.

"Why do you always show me up?" Elena demanded, impressed, but still slightly annoyed.

"Don't hate me because I'm awesome," Reno spit his tongue out at her, dropping silently to the floor where he rested his arms on his knees.

"How on earth do you heal so quickly?" she asked suddenly, the question surprising even herself. He hadn't shown any signs of pain lately and was moving as if his still rather recent wounds didn't exist. Reno looked up at her, unnaturally bright aquamarine eyes showing surprise.

"Mako," he said simply, not offering any further explanation and moving on at once, "So I think you've gotten good enough at shootin' stuff. You'll get better over time of course, but this is fine for now. So what shall we do next?" He considered this for a moment, bouncing up moments later as an idea came to him, "I know. We can finally get around to sparring." He grinned, such an evil grin it made Elena extremely uncomfortable, "I know Rude helped ya out a bit, but that's really just scratching the surface. There's so much more to cover. You'll be done training before ya know it though. Then you get to start on missions. Won't that be fun?" His grin remained extremely devious, not comforting Elena about any of her upcoming tasks.

"Uh, ok," she said uneasily, already feeling the twinges of nervousness as she thought about her first mission. What if she messed it up?

"I don't feel like fightin' right now, so let's go bother Tseng instead," Reno didn't wait for an answer, already starting to hurry off.

"Watcha doin'?" Reno questioned, not bothering to knock before entering Tseng's office. He hopped over the back of a chair to land sideways, long legs dangling over the side. Elena loitered awkwardly in the background.

"I see you are feeling much better," Tseng stated wryly, only a tiny twitch showed his annoyance at Reno's entrance and attitude.

"Why yes, yes I am," Reno replied, sliding around to sit in his chair correctly, then propping his feet up on the corner of Tseng's desk with a flourish, "Thanks for noticing." He grinned, entwining his long fingers over his stomach.

"How did you get all those injuries anyway?" Elena asked as she took a seat in one of the comfy plush chairs, wondering why it had never occurred to her to question before. She knew missions could be dangerous, but Reno, one of the best of the best, had managed to come out of something with two broken bones and a wicked gash the length of his back.

"Stupid AVALANCHE," Reno answered swiftly, making a face to show exactly how he felt about the party in question, "Apparently they had a problem with me doin' my job. Hey, it's not like I asked to blow that damned pillar anyway."

"Reno!" Tseng cut him off sharply, looking angrier than Elena had ever seen him. She wasn't really thinking about that right now though, as what Reno had said slowly processed. She blinked, went over it again and again and always came up with the same conclusion.

"You….you blew it up," she whispered, realization entering her eyes followed by horror, "But…the news said it was…AVALANCE."

"And who runs the news, sweetheart?" Reno asked, his face a mask, showing nothing.

"Shinra," she answered automatically, "But why?" Her eyes looked back and forth from Reno to Tseng, looking for an answer.

"That's where AVALANCHE had their hideout. It was an effective way to kill some of 'em off while gettin' a message across," Reno pointed out, his voice totally even, with no emotion.

Elena stared at her hands, processing this new information. She knew the Turks didn't always employ the most honorable of methods, and frequently killed people, but this? These were innocent people, families and children even. And for what? Killing of a few members of some group that didn't even stand a chance against a power as great as Shinra? That wasn't worth the sacrifice of thousands!

"Amazing, just great," Tseng sighed, hissing at Reno in exasperation, "Why don't you go announce that juicy tidbit to the whole world, Reno!"

"What? She's a Turk!"

"Trainee, Reno, trainee," Tseng shot back, "We were not going to tell her anytime soon, if ever."

"Well sorry, but apparently I didn't get the memo," Reno answered sharply, settling back in his chair, arms crossed defensively.

"I've uh….got to go," Elena said suddenly, getting up from her chair without looking at either of them. _Murderers! _Her mind screamed at her. She had to get home, digest all this information and figure how she felt about it. Her head hurt and she felt a little dizzy.

"Fine, but don't tell nobody and make sure ya come back tomorrow, or one of us will come knockin' at your door," Reno called after her.

"Reno!" Tseng reprimanded again.

"What? It's the truth. You can't quit this job. You're in too deep already," Reno said, softer, still directing his words to Elena although she was out the door and in the hall. Maybe his words applied to all of them though.

Elena lay awake very late that night and into the early morning. She didn't do much other than sit on her couch or lay in bed, eyes open staring blankly at something or other. It was completely quiet in her apartment, nothing making a sound, but her head was buzzing with noise. _How could they do that? What kind of person did it take to give an order like that? How heartless do you have to be to carry that order out? Did they not know about all who would die? Of course they had to know, so did they care? Apparently not…_ But she knew these people, or at least knew them a little. They had imperfections but none of her co-workers were monsters. _So how did this happen? _More importantly, could she keep working at this job knowing this? Did she have a choice? Reno's parting words rang in her head over and over as she finally drifted into an uneasy sleep. _You can't quit this job. You're in too deep already…_

_Author's Note: Deep thoughts, deep thoughts. Don't they always hit us late at night? xD Anywho, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please drop me a line and let me know what you thought. =) Also hope and pray I don't get sick because I've had a sore throat for the past two days and I really do not want to be ill. =( I don't have time to be sick! =P Anyway, thanks so much for reading you guys. As usual, I love you all! xD _


	7. Chapter 7

_Author's Note: Another long-ish chapter! It would have been even longer, I actually have about 10K words written right now that aren't posted, but there wasn't another good place to cut-off and I didn't want to post it all at once. =) I'm thinking about posting twice a week instead of once...like maybe updating Monday or Tuesday night as well as Friday night. Let me know what you think, I'll definately post another update this weekend, maybe Sunday. =) Anyhow, there's a lot of good stuff in this chapter, make sure to leave me a review saying what you liked. That way I can include more of that particular topic! For example! Someone mentioned in their last review (or the one before, I can't remember) that they were intrigued by the mention of the mako and hoped to hear more of it. Well guess what?! There's more about that in this chapter! And guess what? I had actually not intended to mention the mako again. But this dear reader and reviewer found it interesting so I brought it in! So PROOF that I listen! xD Sorry for the random tangent, I will let you get back to reading this update. xD ENJOY! _

Elena dragged her eyes open groggily when her alarm clock went off. Muttering curses she slapped her hand around on the small wooden bedside table, fumbling to make the noise stop. Finally shutting the thing off, she pulled herself into a sitting position with a grumbled sigh. _Why do I feel so bad? _She wondered, not sure why this particular morning made her feel like pulling the covers over her head and never coming out. As she glanced around, searching both her room and her mind for any reason, her gaze fell upon an old newspaper, tossed carelessly aside on the top of her dresser across the room. She could barely understand anything on it from where she was in her comfy queen sized bed, but she saw enough of the front page to remember that horrible day. And it all came back to her.

With a groan, Elena flopped over, bouncing slightly in the cushy pillows and putting her hands over her face. _How could this happen to me? _She'd managed to land such a great job. Yeah, it had it's rough parts, everyone heard the rumors, but there had been no way for her to know it was this bad. She shuddered, imagining what it would have been like living in Sector 7 that night. _Horrible. _Blocking the imagery from her head, Elena thought about what Reno had said the day before. _"Make sure ya come back tomorrow, or one of us will come knockin' at your door."_ Instinctively, she glanced quickly at her clock, making sure it wasn't late, or even anywhere near time for her to leave. _Not that I'm afraid. _She told herself stubbornly, sliding out of bed and going into the bathroom. _Ok, maybe I am a little scared. _She admitted, comforting herself with the fact that a Turk knocking on your door was no petty matter.

A shower helped calm her down, even though her confused thoughts still pounded around in her head. She had a deep, calm feeling overall though, which made her suspect that she had already made a decision, even though her conscience mind was still debating the matter. Her suspicion was only strengthened as she continued about her normal morning routine with none of the flightiness and confusion one would expect from someone lost in an important decision. Checking herself over in the full-length mirror on the back of the door, Elena straightened her suit here and there, made sure every strand of hair was in place, and headed for the door. _I can't quit now. I never could quit. _She knew she wouldn't be able to look at any of her co-workers the same, but Elena's first impressions of people were never wrong, and in her heart she still believed these were good people. _Like Reno said, "It's not like I asked to blow it up." Maybe there's more to this story than I know. _She reassured herself with this information as she walked down the street. It wasn't far from her apartment to the Shinra headquarters and she preferred walking anyway.

With every step she took, Elena became more and more comfortable with her decision. The logic of it was plain and clear. She'd ultimately had two choices: to quit her job as a Turk, or to keep it. There were many factors involved that argued for or against both choices, but if you broke it down to the most serious, it came down to a choice between having no job and likely being quietly 'taken care of' as a possible information leak, or having a job with people who had killed thousands on an order. Natural survival instinct made most of the decision, but Elena trusted her gut feelings and they told her there was more to it than she knew right then. She fully intended to get the whole story as quickly as possible however.

Walking down the beige hallway to her office, Elena was secretly glad she didn't run into any of them. That could have been an awkward moment. There was a note on her desk when she got there, scrawled in such messy handwriting that she could barely read it. It was from Reno, telling her to meet him in the gym. That was all. Elena was happy she didn't have to go get him this time. She was up for a good sparring match, and that was most likely what they were going to do since he'd mentioned it the day before. Tossing her stuff onto the desk, she went back into the hall and headed for the gym.

When Elena walked in the door, Reno was already there, talking quietly to Rude. Rude was sitting in a chair, staring at the floor, occasionally nodding. Reno stood nearby, shifting lightly from foot to foot restlessly. It occurred to Elena then how much he used his hands when he talked. No matter what he was talking about, they waved around in the air with greater or lesser motion depending on how he felt about what he was saying. Right now he seemed to be engaged in a rather animated conversation, although his voice was too quiet for her to hear across the room. _A rare occurrence. Reno, quiet. Ha._ They both looked over at her when she walked in, and Reno muttered one last thing before shutting up and strolling lazily over to her with his hands in his pockets. His long, blood-red ponytail swished slightly side to side as he walked.

"Good mornin'," he grinned, apparently not finding this awkward at all after their last conversation.

"What's up?" Elena replied, wondering what Reno had wanted her for. She assumed sparring, but with Reno you could never be sure.

"Nothin' but the ceiling," Reno answered her promptly, his smirk showing he understood what she had meant perfectly, "But that's not important right now. Today you get to beat the crap outta me. Or try at least."

"Uh, ok," Elena answered, thrown off the tiniest bit by his odd answer to her innocent question.

"Now normally, they let the rookies change into somethin' more suited for sparring," Reno carried on, walking back towards where Rude sat and where the padded section of floor was, "But what's more suited than a suit?" Reno laughed at his own play on words before continuing, "But seriously, you're gonna have to fight in it later so why not start out that way?"

Elena nodded to herself, slightly surprised by the clear logic behind a decision of Reno's, but agreeing at the same time.

"And Rude's here because…." Reno stopped and turned to Rude, "Why are you here?"

"To help," Rude answered, not specifying how he was to help.

"Well anyway," Reno turned to Elena now that they were both faced off on the section of the floor that was slightly padded, and designated for sparring, "Hit me."

Elena secretly felt it was much harder to plan and execute an attack in a situation such as this. He knew it was coming, he had told her to hit him, so the element of surprise was completely thrown out the window. She would of course try to hit him in a way that was surprising, but she doubted how well that would go over considering how good all the Turks were. It was even easier to initiate a fight in a real scenario without the use of surprise. The way Elena saw it, if the use of surprise was unavailable, that must certainly mean the target already knew of your presence. If this was the case, surely the target would be attacking you himself, or running. Either way, there was some action occurring on the part of the attacked. Here Reno was just standing there, not even looking like he was ready for a fight. He stood with his hands still in his pockets, slouched slightly as always, watching her. The only thing about his whole body that gave away his inner alertness was his eyes. They shone bright blue and stayed fixed on her with an intensity that made her nervous. The whole situation was very awkward.

"Just hit me," Reno urged, speaking very quietly now, "You know you want to." Almost as if he'd put the thought in her head just at that moment, Elena remembered all her confusion of the morning, the swirling emotions that had clouded her whole mind the night before, and the horror that the thousands of poor people must have experienced seeing the plate above their heads crumbling down on top of them. So hit him she did. Or tried to at least. She'd made a sudden lunge for him, making to come on the left side, feinting to the right, and quickly switching back to the left to bring her left leg up to get him in the back of the head. She didn't get him though, Reno moved so quickly she barely saw him almost disappear behind her. She let her leg swing around, the momentum spinning her so she faced Reno again. Making a swift decision, she ran at him again, going to punch him hard in the gut. When he blocked it easily like she knew he would, her second punch was already headed for his chin. He ducked, her fist only hitting flying strands of red hair. One hand actually touching the floor, Reno swung a long leg up to kick her on the side of the neck. While she was actually pushed back, partly due to his kick and partly due to her backing to unsuccessfully avoid the hit, Elena noticed that he didn't hit her that hard.

With everything happening so fast, she marveled at how one tiny thing could stand out so much, but she didn't have time to think about it. Going for him again, she got the surprise of her life as the next thing she knew was she was laying on her back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling with the breath knocked out of her. Reno's grin hovered inches from her face as he held her down, pinning her arms and had a knee lightly in her stomach.

"Now how are ya gonna get up?" he asked in a conversational tone. Elena struggled to get the air back in her lungs, the situation not helped by Reno's proximity, including the hair that fell over his shoulder to tickle her neck. Rude had pity on her however, suddenly looming above both of them, grabbing the back of Reno's collar and tossing him off with one hand.

"Hey!" Reno shouted, managing to land on his feet somehow, "What the hell was that? You're interrupting my training!"

"She wasn't going to be able to get up," Rude pointed out calmly, offering Elena a hand, "I interrupted you wasting everyone's time. Go again." Rude went back to his seat to observe round two. Elena had caught her breath and went for Reno again, assuming he was ready even though he was standing with his arms crossed and glaring at Rude. It's not like he'd exactly stood at attention the first time, so she thought it was a fine assumption. She was right apparently, as he kicked her feet out from under her and connected his fist with her face in an effective move to land her on her back again. Reno was still hitting her lightly, taking her out without hurting her. Rubbing her sore but thankfully not broken nose, Elena got up and went for it again. A similar scenario played out each time. Elena went for him, landing on her back in five seconds or less.

"Reno, don't be sulky," Rude called out, annoyed after this had gone on for a solid ten minutes, "The point it to teach her, not beat her up. We all know you can lay her on her back any second."

"Why yes, yes I can," Reno said happily, a huge grin on his face, turning to look at Rude who just stared back a second before sighing and shaking his head.

"I didn't mean that and you know it!" Rude said loudly, pointing an accusing finger at Reno, "Get your head out of the gutter." Reno just laughed while Elena picked herself off the ground again, looking back and forth for barely a second before her ears turned fiery red and she stared at the ground awkwardly. Rude, with only the best of intentions, had just made the rest of her career that much more difficult, .

"Alright," Reno said through fits of laughter, "Try again, I promise you won't get laid this time." Cracking up into hysterics again, he almost fell over laughing so hard while Rude just watched in a disapproving silence. Elena did suspect she saw the ghost of a smile on Rude's face though, but she didn't take time to get a second look as she saw her chance to get Reno. This time she was able to punch him in the gut, turning a laugh into a bit of a wheeze. The victory was short-lived however as Reno grabbed her wrist, twisting it behind her back while grabbing her other wrist and holding it firmly. He'd stopped laughing now.

"Get out of this one, sweetheart," he said softly in her ear. Elena hated how her face turned hot and hated how she could hear the smirk in his voice. She struggled, but was barely able to budge. He'd been hitting her softly earlier, hiding his considerable strength for someone so lightly built. She tried as hard as she could and still couldn't move an inch, much less pull free.

"Damn," Elena muttered under her breath, quitting her futile struggle to break away from his iron grip.

"Ah, what was that?" Reno questioned, clearly delighted with himself, "Does the prim and proper little lady we've got hear actually swear?"

"Oh, shut up jerk," Elena snapped, turning her head as best she could to glare at him, "Just let me go and teach me something useful already." Reno deftly spun her around, so that both her arms were pinned behind her and she was pulled up very close to him. He grinned at her, the loose hair around his face brushing against her forehead and cheeks.

"Well if that's what ya really want," he whispered, aqua eyes glittering mischievously, "There's plenty of useful stuff I could be teachin' ya. We just gotta ditch Rude and-"

"Let's pretend you can behave like an adult," Rude interrupted, standing at Reno's elbow, "Just for this afternoon so you two can get some work done. I would rather my time not be completely wasted." Rude stood there until Reno let Elena go. The redhead laughed lightly, completely un-phased by the encounter while Elena was left blushing and stuttering. "In case you were wondering," Rude said over his shoulder as he made his way back to his seat for the third time that day, "This is why Tseng is making me sit here all afternoon."

"Ok fine," Reno gave in, "I guess we have to have something to show for today in case Tseng asks. You need to loosen up," he pointed at Elena accusingly, "You're so rigid it's impossible _not _to see what your next move is. And every thought you think is written on your face. Try to keep us from readin' your mind, ok? Your punches ain't bad thanks to Rude, but your kicks suck," Reno sighed, rocking back on his heels, "This is gonna take a lot of work."

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Elena collapsed in her desk chair later. All she wanted to do was go home and take a shower, but she still had to stick around for about another hour. Reno wasn't joking when he said something was going to take a lot of work. And he wasn't nearly done with her yet. He'd only managed to become slightly more satisfied with the form of her kicks even after all the work they did. She closed her eyes, just relishing the break she had.

"Aw, come on," Reno's voice interrupted her restful calm, "I know I didn't work you to death." Elena's eyes flew open and she straightened up in her chair at once, startled since she hadn't heard him come in. "Relax, I don't care if ya nap on the job. I do it all the time." He bounced into a chair, kicking his feet up on the arm rest of another chair.

"I was just resting for a second," Elena defended herself. Reno didn't answer immediately, his eyes roving quickly around the room.

"You're smart for comin' back," he pointed out in a serious voice, still keeping his eyes occupied with the room.

"It's not like I had much of a choice," she mentioned, not entirely sure how to respond to his statement.

"That's exactly right," Reno fixed his aqua eyes on her, eyes that were always laughing at something, but went so much deeper if you really looked, "Workin' for Shinra has got it's perks. Anybody that sticks with 'em for long has got a sweet retirement to look forward to. There's no retirement package for Turks," he never looked away from her for a second, his voice still the lazy drawl it usually was, but a harsher, more serious tone ran underneath, "There's none needed. Ya don't quit, and ya don't live long enough to retire. Simple as that," he shrugged, taking his piercing gaze away from her again, "Not that it's a bad deal. Ya get paid more than most of the idiots in this place." Elena listened carefully, slightly disturbed by this morbid truth, but acknowledging the considerable pay with a nod. She still hadn't decided if it was worth it. She doubted she ever would come to a conclusion on that argument.

"It may seem like fun," Reno's eyes traveled back to her again, "Like being a super secret spy or somethin'. The stuff kids play at. But wait until they tell ya to do somethin' you don't want any part of. Then it's kill or be killed. Literally. Don't judge any of us over something you think you know, until you've had to choose between your life or somebody else's. I'm no hero, Elena. Never pretended to be." He stared at her intensely for barely a second more before getting up and leaving abruptly.

Elena just sat in her chair, a little stunned by the sudden serious conversation. Well, one-sided conversation really, but she didn't mind. She'd wanted the whole story, and while she still didn't have it, she understood it so much better. Elena wasn't prepared to make a judgment on whether it was right or wrong, she had no idea. All she knew was the same thing she'd assumed this morning. These weren't bad people. Her deep thoughts were interrupted as Tseng knocked gently on her open office door and came in. Taking a seat, he looked at her seriously for several moments before saying anything.

"I understand your training continued as normal today," he said. Elena nodded, not knowing if she was expected to say anything. "Good," Tseng said, pausing before slowly continuing, "What Reno said yesterday is fairly true. You can't quit. I didn't want you to find out about that unfortunate incident like that, or even find out at all. That isn't knowledge that you need to live with. Obviously, you can't forget or pretend it didn't happen now. But as bad as you feel about it, you didn't do it. Remember that. Also remember how much worse you would feel if you had," Tseng was silent, letting these thoughts sink in, before he got up, turning around at the door to say one more thing, "Just so you know, Reno grew up in Sector 7." With this, Tseng was gone.

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"How did you guys end up here anyway?" Elena asked Reno and Rude, "Like, as a Turk." They were taking a break Elena had insisted upon after several hours of hard work. The morose thoughts of the previous day had stuck with her far into the night, but their doom and gloom feeling had worn off by now allowing her to fully concentrate and participate with vigor in her sparring. Reno was bouncing around, unable to sit still for long as usual. Elena always wondered where the hell he got that endless energy from.

"I was accepted for the job, same as you," Rude answered first, sitting quietly to the side. Today he had brought along some paperwork and was filling it out while keeping an eye on them. Well, really he was there to keep an eye on Reno. "Applied for the job, got in, and here I am. Reno's entrance is a little more…interesting." Rude glanced up at the redhead who was wearing his usual smirk.

"I was offered the job," Reno said, clearly amused by his story, "I was about, uh, sixteen at the time. Wandrin' around one day in the slums as usual. Saw some well-off lookin' guy walkin' down the street on his own. It was actually Tseng, out on some mission stalkin' some drug dealer or somethin'. I stole his wallet," Reno's grin grew even bigger at the look on Elena's face.

"You stole Tseng's wallet?!" Elena's jaw dropped. Rude just shook his head sadly.

"Yup. Too bad he noticed though. I was walkin' off with it safe and sound in my pocket when he put a gun to the back of my head. Guess he wasn't in a good mood that day. Maybe he just didn't have the time to talk me outta it. Probably a good thing since I wasn't about to be talked outta anythin' I wanted to do then."

"You say that as if we can talk you out of stupid ideas now," Rude pointed out.

"Uh, good point," Reno smirked, "Ya still can't talk me outta anythin'. Well anyway, he puts this pistol of his to the back of my head, starts tellin' me to give him his wallet back, but if he thought I was just gonna give it up that easy, he must have been delusional that day too. Not like he's not delusional now." Reno glanced at Rude and snickered. Rude just looked at him. "Fine, don't laugh. You know it's funny though," Reno turned away from Rude and back to his rapt audience consisting of Elena, who was more horrified than anything, "I like to tease Tseng a lot, but he's really not a guy you wanna get in a fight with. Still, mostly because he was surprised, in a couple of seconds I had that gun away from my head and pointed in his face instead. Ya shoulda seen the look he gave me! It was awesome. I didn't have the skill then, but I've always been fast. So he completely changes his tune then, and tells me his name and stuff and asks me if I wanna job. Completely threw me off. I can't say what I said to him that day was very nice," Reno smirked, "But by the week's end they had me trapped in this suit, goin' threw their crazy training. Turns out he didn't even lose the guy he was trailin' that day either. I figured out who he'd been after and, for my own reasons, I knew where ya could find him. That's pretty much it. So uh, that's how I'm a Turk." Reno grinned, finishing his story. By the length and detail, Elena guessed Reno liked to tell a story, especially if it centered around him and was remotely entertaining.

"But you were sixteen!" Elena said, surprised since she didn't think a sixteen year old would be hired by Shinra, much less for a job such as the Turks. Reno shrugged.

"I wasn't complaining. Had an exciting job, and a hell of a paycheck. Job comes with a reputation too. Nobody messed with me anymore. And if they did, well," Reno grinned, something of an vindictive grin which led Elena to believe he was remembering a specific event, "Well, it didn't go very well for them."

"I came along a couple years later," Rude offered, helping Elena sort out the timeline, "Been stuck with this nut job ever since." He smiled slightly though, strengthening what Elena already knew. Reno and Rude got along very well even if they were complete opposites. _They could almost be brothers. Expect brothers fight more._ Not that Reno and Rude didn't have their arguments. Elena heard Reno yelling now and then from various locations on their floor. You never heard Rude yell though, so Elena was fairly certain they never argued about anything serious. She hadn't been their long though, so there was still time.

"You're like the best friend I never wanted," Reno laughed, rubbing Rude's bald head.

"Stop it," Rude swung a punch at the redhead who danced away quickly, laughing all the more since Rude had missed him. The bald man ignored his co-workers antics and continued working on the paper work in front of him.

"Ok, enough break," Reno turned his attention to Elena, "Let's work."

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Elena sat spinning gently back and forth in her chair, musing on the information she'd received. It seemed like she learned something new every day here. Not just training stuff, but things about her co-workers. There were still worlds of detail she was sure was hidden from here, and several things she knew vaguely about, but had questions on. _Like the mako. What's that all about? _Elena didn't pretend to be an expert on mako, as far as it's use on humans went, but she felt she knew more than average. She knew that it was given in controlled dosages to SOLDIER to up their performance. _Did they do the same thing to Reno? Do Tseng and Rude have it too? Am I going to have to get it? _She was a little alarmed at the prospect, considering the mako was known to make several of the people it was given to go crazy. _Well wait a minute. _She also knew that a side-effect of the mako was an almost glowing blue color to the eyes. _That's why they sparkle so much. _She'd always noticed Reno's eyes, since they were such a unique color, even considering the mako in his system. Now that she thought about it, they could definitely be considered to glow slightly. With the same facts in mind, Elena recalled that neither Rude's nor Tseng's eyes were blue or glowing. So mako wasn't a requirement for a Turk. _Good._ Elena had a lot of courage, but willfully undergoing a process that was as likely to make you go crazy as it was to actually work? She didn't think she was up for that. It did make her wonder a lot more why Reno had the mako while none of the other Turks did. _Maybe he was originally in SOLDIER? _She quickly threw that idea out since they'd told her earlier that Reno had gone straight from the streets to being a Turk. She mentally grappled with the whole situation, trying desperately to come up with a scenario that would appease her curiosity, at least for the time.

_Author's Note: For those of you that feel we are falling into a pattern again, DON'T WORRY! The cycle breaks in the next chapter. =) More on the mako in the next chapter too. Please review and let me know what you thought, what stood out to you, overall opinion, blah blah blah. I love hearing it. xD THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING AND REVIEWING! Also, for those of you who remember last weeks author's note, I did get sick. =( But I got better since then, so it's good. xD Thanks to those of you who wished me well. xD It worked. LOVE YOU GUYS! Now review, seriously. xD_


	8. Chapter 8

_Author's Note: Ok, so before I forget, GO READ THIS STORY! It's by Naril, the story is called "Bloodied Needles". You may be able to guess, it's a little dark, but I like it so...=) There is a long-awaited sequal, "Bloodied Soul" which just posted it's first chapter!!! *stops to have a party* So go read it, and remember to review it! Mention I sent you. xD There are a few spelling/grammar errors in the first, but you are allowed to complain only if you have never, ever, never, ever, ever, never made any spelling/grammar error in your LIFE! =) Anyway, back to my story....=) There is more on the MAKO! As promised! So YAY! Also some action stuffs, we finally break the cycle! Hurrah! So yes, I'm going to shut up before I tell you the whole thing....=P ENJOY READING AND PLEASE REVIEW! _

"Excellent," Reno said, giving her an honest smile along with his rare sincere praise. Elena smiled back, pleased with herself. She never took too long to catch on, and as strange of a teacher as Reno was, he knew what he was teaching. She still wasn't perfect in every arena, but she was doing quite well in everything and had several topics mastered. The question that had bothered her for most of the previous day was still buzzing around in her head, begging to be put to rest. Finally Elena gave in and asked.

"So the mako," she started suddenly, but casually, "What's up with that?" She noticed Rude look up slowly out of the corner of her eye, but she had eyes and ears only for Reno right now. He looked a little surprised by the question, and seemed to hesitate before answering. Finally he shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets and wearing a careless expression.

"I dunno," he didn't look at her while he answered, his bright aquamarine eyes dancing quickly from one place to another throughout the whole room, "Ask the higher-ups. I just do what I'm told." He gave her his default grin. "Enough questions-"

Anything else he was going to say was cut off when Tseng entered the room abruptly.

"Reno, Rude, my office right now," the man was already walking out of the room again when he stopped and turned to look at Elena with pursed lips, "Elena, you come too."

The whole thing was very strange to Elena, but she quickly followed the others. This didn't seem too surprising to them, so she guessed it wasn't something that had never happened before. Maybe something big had happened, and they had urgent business to attend too. She assumed she'd be allowed to hear what was going on, since she'd been called to Tseng's office as well. She only hoped someone would tell her all the details of the mission when they got back though, since it was unlikely that she'd be sent. As they walked quickly down the hall, Rude slowed and fell back to walk nearer Elena. Putting a hand on her arm, he effectively communicated for her to slow down as well. When they were far enough behind the other two, he started whispering.

"The mako incident happened shortly after I joined. Reno was always really good, I'm sure you've heard that and figured it out for yourself. He hardly trained at all and what he didn't know, he picked up instantly. After the years he worked with them before I arrived, the 'higher-ups', as Reno says, must have been considering it for some time. Mako works as a performance enhancer when applied in the way they have developed for SOLDIER," Rude spoke quickly and quietly, making Elena strain to catch every detail. She wasn't about to let this valuable information slip through her fingers, "Even though Reno was already amazing, they decided it wasn't good enough. They wanted perfection. The mako can sometimes drive people insane. I guess they didn't really care, or decided that Reno was already crazy enough that it wouldn't matter. Not that he's literally crazy, but, well you know. Reno." Elena nodded swiftly to show she understood. The were nearing Tseng's office and Elena desperately hoped Rude could finish before they got there. Reno had glanced over his shoulder, and saw them whispering. She was sure he couldn't hear them, but a look of clear annoyance and a bit of anger flashed across his face. She snapped her attention back to Rude as he continued. "So they did ask him, but it wasn't nearly as much of a choice as they made it sound. He's not dumb, he agreed. What else was he going to do? They went through with it, mostly successful. And that's the story behind the mako."

"Mostly successful?" Elena questioned, hurrying to get all the information while she could, "And why only him?"

"Mostly successful because they couldn't give him as much mako as they wanted to. He's already got more in his system than what they give to the SOLDIER units, but it's still not as much as they wanted. They had to stop because it was starting to have bad side-effects."

At this point they had reached Tseng's office door, the other two having already gone in.

"I'll tell you the rest later," Rude said, barely audible as they walked through the door. Tseng was in his chair, looking busily over a file in front of him. Reno was slumped in another chair, and looked up at them with an accusatory glance when they came in. Rude completely ignored the redhead, while Elena looked back nervously for just a second before quickly focusing her attention on Tseng.

"Close the door," Tseng waved a hand towards the object in question. Elena complied before seating herself, keeping Rude between her and Reno. She didn't know why, he was just giving off a weird vibe right now.

"A mako reactor was attacked early this morning. We're only just now getting the news. I don't have all the details yet, but whoever did it got past the security and tried to blow the whole thing up. That would have been disastrous. Luckily they had technical problems with some of their explosives, which never blew. Enough parts of the reactor have been harmed however to make it inoperable. Reno, Rude, I need you both to get down there as soon as possible, before anyone else messes with the evidence. Figure out what you can. We need to know who did this, why, and where they are. It can't get around that you can get away with attacks on Shinra. Take Elena with you," Tseng glanced up at them, tossing a thick file to Rude, "Any questions?"

"Yeah," Reno shifted in his seat, "Why do we have to take the rookie?"

"Because she needs to get experience from actually working in the field. And this is a mission that shouldn't involve any actual danger. Perfect first mission. Now go, time is of the essence."

Reno sighed, but didn't say another word. Taking her cue as the other two rose, Elena got up and followed them out of the room.

"I'll help you get ready," Rude said to Elena, glancing at Reno who wasn't even acknowledging their presence.

"Thanks," Elena smiled, relieved since she had no idea what she should be doing.

"Ok, so take this," Rude handed her a pistol, same as the standard ones they all carried, "It's already loaded. Leave the safety on the whole time. It's unlikely, but if any gunfire is required, leave it to me and Reno this time, ok?" He looked at her seriously, handing her the black gun.

"Ok," Elena nodded, slipping the gun easily into the holster flapping against her ribcage. It was the type worn around the shoulders, under the coat.

"Extra ammo, extra gun," Rude mentally checked items off as he handed them to Elena, letting her store them wherever she wanted on her person, "Neither should be needed on this mission, but you always have to be prepared. Sometimes on missions that are more likely to involve violence, we get to carry stuff that's uh….more fun." Rude grinned, making Elena wonder if Reno wasn't the only one around here who enjoyed blowing stuff up for the heck of it.

"So that's it?" Elena questioned, looking around the room and herself, checking if anything was forgotten. Rude nodded in reply and the two left Elena's office, Rude having already gotten his things from his office. He had gotten the guns and ammo for her from a locked drawer in her desk. She'd had the key, it was the same as the one to her office door, but she'd never known it was there. _Guess that's why he offered to help me. _

In the hall, a few yards down, Reno leaned casually against the wall, one hand in his pocket and the other holding a weapon she recognized from her training at the Academy as an EMR. She never knew Reno carried one, but now that she thought about it, it definitely fit with his fighting style. She decided it must be quite effective in his swift hands. When it was emitting electricity, Elena imagined receiving a blow from Reno's EMR would be much like a lightning strike. Reno turned his head lazily to smirk at them.

"I would have come in there to see if you were ready," he said, casually but with a tense tone underneath, "But I thought maybe you were whispering more stories to each other."

"Get over it, Reno," Rude rolled his eyes, walking past the redhead towards the elevators.

"Hey! Maybe instead of me getting over it you could stop telling her all this crap," Reno shot back, all casual pretenses gone. He was angry and it was obvious. Elena followed at the end of the line as Reno followed Rude. "Since when did you get so gossipy, Rude, huh?" Reno spoke as if she wasn't there, which was ok by Elena since she'd rather hear him yell at someone else than at her, even if it was about her.

"The only reason I'm telling her is because she's asking questions which you are answering evasively," Rude turned to face Reno after hitting the button to call the elevator, "It's not like these are deep, dark secrets, Reno. I don't know why you don't tell her in the first place."

"Well maybe what I chose to keep to myself is my business and maybe it's not your place to decide if I'm telling her enough or not."

The elevator doors lid open with a quiet ding, admitting the Turks into it's plush interior. The typical elevator music was a strange contrast to the electricity in the air. Elena glanced nervously up at the other two, who were momentarily silent as Rude flipped the file open and read quickly over the first page.

"So where we goin'?" Reno asked, his voice still angry, but not yelling anymore.

"Sector Five," Rude answered curtly, pushing the very bottom floor, a few below the lobby. As soon as the door slid shut again and the elevator began it's swift and smooth descent, Rude started talking.

"Look I'm not trying to tell stories behind your back, but if you really want to control it that much you should have told her the basic story in the first place leaving out whatever you wanted to leave out. It's ridiculous to tell her the little bit you did."

"Whatever, man, I don't care. Tell her what you want," Reno crossed his arms, letting go of the EMR to do so, which dangled at his side, strapped to his wrist by a thin but sturdy leather band. He slouched against the wall, scowling down at the thick red carpeted floor. An awkward silence reigned for the few remaining seconds of the ride. It seemed much longer, causing Elena to be inordinately relieved to hear the welcome ding announcing their arrival. Elena didn't know what to expect, being completely unfamiliar with this floor, but what she saw wasn't what she was expecting. A huge parking garage spread out before her, still made of the same concrete and steel all others were made out of, but managing to look classier than most somehow. A varied array of cars were lined up neatly in the parking spaces, assumedly belonging to the Shinra employees who drove to work.

Reno and Rude wasted no time staring at the un-amazing sight before them, instead making a hard left and walking past a few rows before coming to a sight that was certainly amazing. There was a section separated from the rest of the garage by steel gating stretching between the concrete pillars. Big gates stood open now, but could be closed and locked tightly when so desired. This section was where they were headed, and where bunches of vehicles were parked. They had everything ranging from black SUV's and limos to sleek sports cars in all colors imaginable. All the cars were shiny and in brand-new condition.

"A bit of Rufus' personal collection," Reno pointed to the shiny, beautiful group of sports cars, parked at an angle in a row, "That's what daddy's money will get ya. Especially now that daddy's dead, Rufus doesn't even have to answer to anyone. Kinda a scary thought actually…" His ill humor seemed to be momentarily forgotten. Elena could understand why. She wasn't particularly into cars, but even she got an almost unbearable urge to go and stroke them for hours.

"I'm drivin'," Reno announced, sliding his ID card through a scanner similar to those in the shooting range. A simple black box mounted on the wall unlocked with a sharp click. Reno flipped the metal doors open and quickly scanned over the several rows of keys hanging neatly on hooks. There was a label above each key, identifying which car it belonged with. With an short, excited laugh, Reno snatched one up, firmly shutting the metal cabinet behind him. Grinning in such a way to make Elena fear for her life, Reno walked with purpose past the limos, past the SUV's, and into the row of sports cars, coming to a stop before a sleek and shiny Corvette. It was a very recent model, all black with tinted windows.

"Reno," Rude sighed, staring at the other man's car choice with clearly mixed emotions.

"What?" Reno hit the button making the doors unlock with a small beep, "I picked very conservatively. Nothing's going to happen to it. This isn't anything like that other mission that one time." Here Reno's grin began to grow, alerting Elena at once that there was a good story behind this.

"You had to take the Ferrari that time didn't you?" Rude shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It was awesome!" Reno opened the driver's door, sliding into the leather seat without any of the awkwardness one would expect someone to have when driving someone else's car, "I didn't intend for it to blow up. It just….happened. Anyway, nothing is going to happen to this one, and if it did, Rufus wouldn't even miss it. He'd replace it in no time."

"Well try not to break as many laws as you usually do," Rude closed the passenger door gently, buckling his seat belt quickly. Elena settled herself in the back, wondering exactly what scenario had developed to merit the explosion of a Ferrari belonging to Rufus Shinra.

"What are ya talkin' about?" Reno grinned over at Rude, "I'm a great driver!" With this he peeled out of the parking space, going much faster than any sane person would.

"I'm driving on the way back," Rude said firmly, stepping out of the Corvette Reno had parked at an angle directly in front of the main entrance to the mako reactor.

"What?" Reno stood back, pocketing the keys and gestured toward the car with his arm, "There's not a scratch on it, the tires aren't worn down, and no wear and tear on the brakes!"

"That's because you didn't use them," Elena input, shutting the door behind her as if closing the gates of hell.

"Oh come on," Reno rolled his eyes, but he was having fun, "Didn't you guys hear Tseng? 'Time is of the essence'. Apparently I'm the only one who pays any attention to anything he says around here."

True to his word, Reno was a good driver. Despite his rather illegal driving practices, he _had _to be classified as 'good' considering he and all his passengers were alive right now after that ride. Especially considering that the car was in as excellent condition as it was before he touched it. She was sure several years had been taken off her heart from a few of the close-calls they'd experienced. It certainly hadn't been reassuring when Reno laughed while barely missing being smashed to bits. He completely disregarded speed limits, in fact Elena doubted he knew such a thing existed, he acted as if he owned the rode, weaving between cars and zipping past the other 'fast' drivers with ease. There had been an interesting moment when Reno sped right past a cop, not even slowing down a little. The cop completely ignored this huge violation, not moving an inch. When Elena had expressed her surprise at this strange fact, Reno had quickly answered her question.

"License plate says 'Shinra'," he'd explained, "They all do. Kinda dorky in my opinion, but no one pulls ya over so it does kinda rock. They can't tell who's in the car. Let's put it this way," Reno had turned in his seat to look at her at this point, "Would you wanna be the cop that pulled Rufus Shinra over?"

Elena had begged with him to watch the road, not answering his rhetorical question.

Elena brought her attention back to the present, following Rude and Reno into the lobby area of the huge mako reactor building. The place was nothing like the Shinra headquarters building which simply reeked of wealth, but it was still quite classy. Shiny white marble floors reflected the light from the wall of windows across the front of the building, as well as the silver light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. The lobby was considerabley smaller than the Shinra headquarters lobby, which took up the entire first floor. This one had room enough for a large front desk of light colored wood, and a comfy sitting area well-stocked with fake plants and the latest of every magazine in Midgar. Right now, everything other than a very small section of the room by the front door was roped off with crime scene tape. Both Reno and Rude completely ignored it, easily slipping under the barrier. Elena followed suit, feeling a little smug and triumphant since she'd always wanted to walk past those things.

"Yo, sweetheart," Reno swiftly approached the secretary stationed at the desk. The young woman seemed extremely agitated, and looked up a little alarmed when Reno called her, "You know any of the details? Give me the run-down of what happened, and be quick about it, I don't want to be here all day, ok?" He leaned his elbows on the high counter and looked down on her expectantly.

"I…uh…I don't know much, but I do know that the culprits didn't come through the lobby. They entered through a back entrance," she fumbled around papers with shaky hands, finally pulling one out, setting it before him and pointing to a spot on a blueprint, "Here. They got through this door and placed explosives, planning to blow the whole thing up. It didn't work though. I'm not sure how they escaped."

"Thanks, darling," Reno took the blueprint of the building and frowned at it for a second, taking a red marker out of the pen holder on the lady's desk, "I'm borrowin' this, now point us in the direction of the security office."

"That way," the woman pointed to one of the few doors out of the room, a windowless, wooden door. Reno walked off at once, nodding his thanks. Elena followed the other two, keeping her eyes and ears open to observe every detail of how they dealt with the situation.

Reno paused at the door to hold the map against the wall and make a dot by the back entrance the intruders were suspected to have entered by. Then he opened the door and led them into a hall, less impressive than the lobby. The walls were plain white and the floor was a typical office-type carpeting. Several doors attached to the hallway, all marked with a name or some such label. They walked swiftly past several of these before coming to one that was partially open and labeled "Security". Pushing the door all the way open and not announcing himself at all, Reno entered the room as if he owned the place, drawing the attention of all the people currently in the large room.

"So where'd ya screw up?" Reno questioned the security officers in the room, which must have been at least as large as the lobby. It didn't look anywhere near as neat as that room though, this one being scattered with technical junk. Slim monitors were mounted on the walls around the entire room, showing video feeds of all the major places in the building. A few desks were pushed together in the center of the room, littered with papers and a stray coffee cup here and there. It wasn't very neat, but it was no where near the disaster area Reno's office should be classified as. The room appeared busier than on usual mornings, countless official-looking types gathered around screens, in small groups jabbering away persistently. Everyone heard Reno's oh-so-polite exclamation upon entering though, and all looked up to pale at the new-comers. Finally one stepped forward to address the Turks.

"Hello, sirs, and ma'am," the man who appeared to be in charge here looked nervous, and stuttered slightly, "There uh, was no screw-up on our part, with all due respect, it's just our attackers were very skilled and well prepared."

"Well they blew some shit up didn't they?" Reno questioned, pulling a rolling chair away from it's desk and flopping down in it casually, "So ya screwed-up. Your job is to keep this place safe, and ya didn't. So screw--up. Understand?" The man cleared his throat and nodded, obviously irked but not willing to argue with a Turk.

"Good," Reno continued, glancing quickly about the room. Elena thought it was impossible for him to take in all there was to see that quickly, but she wasn't going to argue with him either. "Now that we're clear on that. It seems you guys have video surveillance, so I wanna see what happened here last night."

"Certainly, if you'll just direct your attention here," the man scurried to a computer on a nearby desk and pulled up a video, "We already went back and found where the suspicious activity started. We've gone through it hundreds of times, but there's not much information we can gather, other than what happened." The other occupants of the room continued their urgent chatter at a much quieter volume while the three Turks leaned around the computer, concentrating on the footage. It displayed a perfectly normal looking back entrance guarded by two men, relaxing against the wall and appearing to engage in a casual conversation. Out of the blew, a blur crossed the screen and both fell to the ground instantly.

"This is the entrance on the east side. The main entrance is used most by our office personnel and the other staff. There is a large delivery entrance in the back as well as two other entrances, mostly for convenience considering the size of the building. The doors are always locked after hours, requiring a key-code to enter. Two guards are posted at all entrances throughout the night, with back-up guards in our office here. Those two dropped, instantly dead, around one in the morning. A large group of our back-up was sent to that door while others were sent to back-up the other entrances as a precautionary measure. We tried contacting Shinra, but our communication lines were down, assumedly cut by the intruders."

"Ever heard of a cell phone?" Reno questioned sarcastically, never taking his eyes of the screen.

"No such signals are allowed in the building. It would interfere with the machinery. Only hard-wired electronics are used. As you can see," the guard quickly changed the topic, pointing to the screen, "They were down for barely ten seconds before these characters move in." On cue, five figures, all in black, moved into their view. Their clothing included black bandanas around their heads, and they moved with speed, making it nearly impossible to distinguish any features. One huddled by the door, which was barely visible from their angle, and the rest crowded around this one, facing outward to stand guard. They stood their ground like that for a full minute before the door swung open and they raced inside, closing it behind them. The Turks watched the footage while the mysterious intruders moved through the building stealthily, evading most of the guards that swarmed the area searching for them. The few they did find where quickly dealt with, showing that these attackers were skilled and knew what they were doing. The scenes were depicted from several different angles as the trespassers moved from one camera view to another. They stopped every now and then to plant a device somewhere before moving on. The clips ended with the whole group leaving through the other back door, having to take out the several guards gathered there. This didn't seem to pose a problem, as they were gone, engulfed by the darkness in less than ten minutes since their arrival.

"Two minutes later the explosives went off, and, well, you know the rest," the guard stopped the video and looked at Reno expectantly.

"Well it's obvious they're trained well, in the art of combat as well as stealth. They, or whoever is behind this, has got brains and an ability to strategize. They had a plan and definitely knew every detail of what was going to happen. This wasn't any random punk that pulled this off," Reno addressed his comments to Rude, who nodded in agreement.

"They used the most efficient route to take them past all the key points and out another door, so they had knowledge of the building," Rude added. Elena glanced from one to the other, something sticking out in her mind, but wondering if she should voice it or not.

"Whatever they used to kill those first guards wasn't a gun," she pointed out hesitantly, "They didn't collect any weapons when they opened that door. Maybe examining whatever those were would help." Reno and Rude looked up at her, a silent surprise on both their faces.

"Do you have them?" Reno asked the guard, while Rude just smiled at Elena.

"Uh, yeah," the guard stepped over to a table which had been cleared of everything except an array of plastic bags holding random objects, and several photographs of equally random things, "Here they are. Untouched except by gloved hands. We examined them for fingerprints, but found none, nor any other identifying marks." He handed the bag to Reno, who took it eagerly, making room so that all three Turks could bend over the package. Two pieces of metal, with four pointy edges, lay in the bag, splattered with dark and crusty blood.

"Throwing stars," Elena said.

"Ninjas," Reno added.

"Wutai?" Rude whispered, as they all three leaned closer to avoid being overheard.

"Yuffie," Reno said with certainty, "Damned AVALANCE. At it again!"

_Author's Note: I actually wanted to cut off before then, but I couldn't find a good spot. And that was all I had written so.....I guess it works anyway. Sort of a cliffie. xD Not a bad one though! And I promise to update soon. By Friday at the latest. So....I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks to all the AWESOME people who reviewed! I want you all to wear a sign on your back that says "I am AWESOME!". If anyone asks, stare blanky and ask, "Isn't it obvious?". =) Ok, I'm kind of hyper, I'm going to shut up and go away....FREE CYBER COOKIES FOR ALL! xD LOVE YOU GUYS! PLEASE REVIEW!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Author's Note: I re-posted a paragraph just to refresh everyone's memory. There's AGAIN some more about the mako in this chapter. So enjoy that. And just some more random stuff...so yeah...read, review, repeat. =)_

The guard stepped over to a table which had been cleared of everything except an array of plastic bags holding random objects, and several photographs of equally random things, "Here they are. Untouched except by gloved hands. We examined them for fingerprints, but found none, nor any other identifying marks." He handed the bag to Reno, who took it eagerly, making room so that all three Turks could bend over the package. Two pieces of metal, with four pointy edges, lay in the bag, splattered with dark and crusty blood.

"Throwing stars," Elena said.

"Ninjas," Reno added.

"Wutai?" Rude whispered, as they all three leaned closer to avoid being overheard.

"Yuffie," Reno corrected with certainty, "Damned AVALANCE. At it again!"

"Could be," Rude's eyebrows rose slightly with this revelation.

"Well we're not gonna figure much else out here," Reno stood up, cracking his knuckles and heading out the door, "Better go take a look. Yo, turn off all the alarm systems for us." Reno lazily called over his shoulder to the security officer they'd been speaking with. The man assured them he would at once, but his politeness was lost as the redhead didn't wait to hear him reply.

Elena and Rude followed as Reno led them back out into the plain hallway and through a complicated maze of passages. Elena, even with her excellent sense of direction, had trouble keeping up with every turn and twist, and she certainly had no idea where they were going. The hallways began to change, becoming less and less office-like and looking more and more like the factory this place really was.

Reno hummed softly the entire time he walked, never hesitating at any turn. She began to wonder if he really knew where he was going, or if he was just hoping to stumble across it. Rude followed him with no questions asked, so she decided it was ok to trust he knew what he was doing for now. Her faith was well-placed, since before much longer the three Turks found themselves at the door the intruders had broken into the night before.

Elena stood by, quietly watching and making her own observations, while watching the other two who seemed to know exactly what they should be doing. They both quickly assessed the area, both outside and inside, before Reno began a closer examination of the door, particularly the keypad.

"The attackers wore gloves," Rude pointed out to Elena as they both watched Reno fingering the device with a small frown on his face, "We could see that much in the footage. No fingerprints obviously, so that's why Reno is touching it. Normally we wouldn't, not without gloves ourselves, and then very sparingly to avoid smudging any other fingerprints."

"What he said," Reno mumbled, "Reeve needs to look at this. It's not physically broken, so they must have hacked it. I can't figure it out here. Gotta take it back somehow…" He looked around for a means of separating the keypad from the door. Luckily, before he started hacking at things, Elena spoke up.

"What's this?" she crouched on the ground, a few feet away from the door on the inside, looking at a small, black, rectangular box, almost invisible laying on the floor in the shadowy space. Rude came over to look, while Reno still puzzled over his conundrum.

"Huh…" Rude frowned at it, "Hey, Reno. Get over here." Reno finally came over, muttering curses, to peer at the object of their interest. He fell silent, staring at the thing for just a few seconds before holding his hand out to Rude. The other man reached into his pocket and handed a small plastic bag to Reno. The bag was used to carefully pick up and hold the mysterious object.

"_This_ is what Reeve needs to look at," Reno stuffed the bag in his pocket and turned to face the hall, "Good work, rookie."

"Gee, thanks, I feel so special," Elena replied sarcastically, irked by the use of 'rookie'. Reno ignored here, choosing to continue his monologue instead.

"Hopefully the route they used isn't completely blown up. It'd be much harder if we couldn't follow in their footsteps." With Reno once again in the lead, the Turks headed down the same hall the mysterious invaders had run down the night before. They passed two explosion sites, neither blocked their path, but both were pretty bad. From what she picked up from Reno and Rude's conversations, Elena figured out that the explosives, from what they could tell, weren't big enough to blow up the building on their own obviously, not even placed throughout as had been done. The explosives had instead been placed strategically at points that would destroy some of the key areas, the loss of even one would make the entire plant inoperable until it could be fixed. With all the key areas down, it would be a long time before the factory was up and running again.

"What they were trying to do," Reno rambled, not really talking to himself, but not really talking to the others either, "Was take it out, without all-out nuking it. Uh huh," he climbed over a bit more of the rubble blocking their path and hopped down on the other side with a satisfied sound, "This is what they were really hopin' to blow."

When Elena landed on the steel walkway, after Rude, she looked at the massive and important looking cylinder in front of them. It was huge, very wide, and going quite far down to the bottom of the building, and up to the top.

"If they'd blown this like they'd planned," Reno tapped an explosive taped onto the metal wall of the cylinder, "The whole damned place would have been a pile of rubble long before we heard about it."

Rude didn't comment, just stepped forward to carefully examine the explosive while Reno continued prowling around the area. Elena watched nervously as Rude fiddled with the device, whipping out a small, but razor sharp knife and proceeding to slice through all the wires carefully, but quickly.

"There," the bald man pocketed the knife, and ripped the tape off, gently setting the explosive in another plastic bag pulled from his pocket.

The Turks continued their search throughout the path the intruders took, taking whatever explosives were not detonated. There were no other traces.

"Well," Reno strolled along, hands in pockets, after they had notified the security team that they were done, "Looks like Strife and the others didn't get the message. We're gonna have to find 'em somehow. Used to be you could always find at least Lockhart down at Seventh Heaven but…well not anymore." Reno's mood quickly changed, his shoulders sinking a little deeper and his silence seemed brooding.

"Do you want to drive?" Rude asked quietly as they approached the ostentatious vehicle they had left directly in front of the building. Reno turned quickly to look at the other man, not saying anything for a second.

"Yeah," he took the keys out of his pocket, clicking the doors unlocked. Elena slid into the backseat with a gulp, as ready as she would ever be for the next harrowing ride of her life. Reno closed his door a little harder than was necessary and quickly cranked the engine, taking off in seconds. He drove even faster on the way back, with fewer of the crazy antics he'd pulled on the way there. The ride was no less frightening though, as Elena was scared to even look at the speedometer. Reno remained in a moody silence the entire time, making the ride eerily quiet.

By the time they were back, Elena was physically exhausted just from being tense for so long. Not that the ride had been a long one, Reno had made the trip in probably record time. It had been long enough though, and Elena was glad to climb out of the beautiful car when they were once again safely in the Shinra Headquarters parking garage.

"Here," Reno announced unceremoniously dropping the few plastic bags with the evidence they'd collected down on Tseng's desk with a dull thunk. Tseng looked up from his now covered paperwork and stared briefly at the collection in front of him, before turning expectantly to the three Turks before him.

"Bastards broke in, killed a couple incompetent losers, tried to blow shit up, and basically failed," Reno summed up what had happened in a very colorful fashion. Complete silence reigned for a few seconds as the redhead, finished with his epic tale, fell into a chair and looked around the room lazily, not really caring what happened next.

"Rude, would you care to explain?" Tseng calmly turned to the other man who tapped Reno not too gently on the head.

"Ow," Reno glared at Rude, rubbing his head as the other man sat down. Rude ignored him, instead detailing the information they'd gathered.

"Hmm, well done," Tseng picked the few bags up one by one, looking over their contents, "Rude bring Elena and take these to Reeve. Good work, by the way, Elena." Tseng smiled at her, handing the bags to Rude.

"Do I get to leave?" Reno asked bluntly, yawning and kicking his feet up on Tseng's desk. This always got at least a twitch out of the Turk leader, who stared at the redhead's feet in annoyance.

"Regrettably, no," Tseng said quietly, but the frustration was still audible in his voice, "We are going to discuss tracking down AVALANCE." That was the last Elena heard, as she followed Rude into the hall.

"So all the evidence goes to Reeve?" she asked when they were in the elevator.

"Not always. This time yes, because it's technical stuff and he's very proficient in that area," Rude pushed the button for a floor not too far above their own.

All was quiet, both absorbed in their own thoughts. Elena was considering Reno's sudden mood change. He'd been bouncy and hyper this morning and now seemed irritable and tired. She was pretty sure she knew why though. _It must be hard living with that. _Sector 7 had been where he grew up after all. Thinking about Reno brought something else to mind. Her curiosity had only been excited all the more by what Rude had told her earlier. _I still don't know everything about the mako. _And he'd left off at such an intriguing part too! She felt terrible for being so nosy, but there was no helping it. The guilt was stronger after Reno's earlier outburst, but what was she supposed to do now? Forget about it and move on? Not a chance. She resolved to ask Rude about it again the first chance she got. Right now, she had other things to focus on as the elevator doors were gliding open smoothly at their stop.

Rude did most of the talking, while Elena stayed mostly in the background, simply observing and taking everything in. Reeve definitely appeared to be a genius, and seemed nice enough. She wondered though, considering he had designed a city where more than half of it's inhabitants didn't see the sun. She watched carefully as he quickly examined the explosive and the small black rectangle. The man didn't say much as he worked, fingers moving quickly. He jotted some notes down on a piece of paper and handed it back to Rude along with the objects.

"I wrote the details down there for Tseng," Reeve pointed at the paper, "But basically, this explosive is home-made, definitely by someone who knew, and was fairly good at what they were doing. Since a couple of them didn't go off, I would say faulty equipment, not lack of knowledge. Some of the pieces aren't secure, which could account for it. This device here now," Reeve pointed to the black rectangle, "Is far more interesting. This is actually a pretty high-level piece of equipment. It hacks simple electronics and can control them, all through radio signals. It has to be at a very close range though, and takes a minute to work. They probably used it to hack the keypad and open the door. A good find though, because it's not any old hooligan who could get their hands on that."

"Thanks," Rude nodded, looking at the object in his hand suspiciously, "It's not going to mess anything up now is it?"

"No, I removed the battery. And I'm glad to help," Reeve smiled at them both, bending busily back over his work as they left.

"So what do we do now?" Elena questioned, back in the hall.

"As far as the mission goes, nothing until Tseng and Reno come up with something," Rude must have picked up on the slight confusion on Elena's face, because he supplied more information shortly, "Reno is actually the second-in-command. Surprising, I know. I've told you already though, he may not be strictly normal, but he's amazing at what he does."

"I didn't even know there was a second-in-command," Elena was surprised, she would have thought that position would belong to Rude, "Reno is really good though."

"You don't know the half of it," Rude smiled, shaking his head slightly, "Anyway, until then, we're pretty much free to do as we please. We shouldn't go far though, in case they need us for something. How about some food?"

"Great idea," Elena realized she was hungry just as he mentioned food. Also, spending time with Rude brought up more of a chance for her to hear the rest of the mako story.

"There's a decent cafeteria on the second floor. Good place to relax when you're still on duty," Rude pushed the button for the second floor as the elevator doors slid closed.

The cafeteria was a typical cafeteria, Shinra-style. It looked a bit more like an average restaurant, but with a serve-yourself style buffet. Once they were both settled, having enjoyed simple sandwiches, Elena had a moment to bring up what she really wanted to hear about.

"So do we have time to hear the rest? You know, about the mako?" Elena asked, trying not to sound too eager.

"Yeah, where did I leave off?" Rude easily complied, settling back in his chair. They were a good distance from the other few occupants of the comfortable cafeteria, so there was no danger of being overheard. Still, Elena kept her voice down when she replied.

"You said they weren't able to give Reno as much mako as they wanted. He's got more than SOLDIER, but it was having bad side-effects and they had to stop."

"Ah, I remember now," Rude's expression darkened a bit as he recalled the details of the events, "So they stopped because he was starting to display mental instability. Not all out insanity obviously, but he just started being…stranger than usual. They said it was the beginnings of the mako driving him mad, so they quit giving it to him quickly and watched him carefully. He got worse for a couple days, acting really odd all the time, but then he started to improve. He was back to normal, or, well back to being Reno again in a week or so. They never tried to go back later and give him more. I guess they're afraid it really would drive him crazy. It was so…different during those few weeks. He did a lot of really random stuff and you'd find him just staring at nothing a lot. Everyone noticed something was off. He did too. He knew something was messed up. I think he's touchy about it and that's why he didn't want me to tell you. Reno doesn't normally care what people know about him. Whatever," Rude sighed, and crossed his arms, looking around the room idly.

"I guess they didn't try it on anyone else?" Elena questioned, trying to get her last few questions answered in case they were interrupted again.

"No," Rude shook his head, "They keep doing it for SOLDIER of course, but they've never tried doing the higher dosage on anyone so far. If it had worked perfectly, they probably would have given it to the rest of us. Since they had that glitch though they didn't risk it. They can't have a handful of unstable Turks," Rude laughed, a short, mirthless laugh, apparently finding this idea remotely amusing.

"What's so funny?" Reno had appeared out of nowhere practically, standing near the table with his hands shoved in his pockets. Rude shook his head, dismissing the idle question.

"How'd you know we were here?" Elena asked, startled that neither her nor Rude had heard the redhead approach.

"Well it makes perfect sense," Reno slouched into a chair, looking a little surprised at her question, "Of course you guys would come get food. And I know Rude knows better than to go far, so cafeteria. Obviously." Reno settled back, glancing lazily around the room, long fingers drumming idly on the table top.

"So what's the plan?" Rude questioned, pushing his plate out of the way and leaning his arms on the table. Reno drew his eyes back to his present company and entwined his fingers over his stomach, leaning back in the chair.

"Well, our prime suspect is AVALANCHE. Seriously, trying to blow up the Midgar mako reactors? Who else? Anyway, since their only known location is a pile of rubble buried under several tons of concrete and steel, we can't exactly go have a little chat with 'em like we normally would," Reno displayed absolutely no emotion during his surprisingly vivid description of Sector 7.

"Are we just going to sit around and wait for other reactors to explode?" Rude kept the conversation moving when Reno didn't speak again for several moments.

"Um, no, not exactly," Reno stopped staring at his hands, "The security has been increased in all the reactors throughout the city. Not on the outside though, we don't want to scare them off if they plan on trying this again. The outside security is the same, but we're arranging for more guards inside, and at least one SOLDIER unit in the building at all times. Reeve is supposed to have been working on a way to improve communications between the reactors and Shinra headquarters since this morning. Whatever he comes up with, whether it be some kind of signal that doesn't interfere with the operation of the plant, or a more secure hard-wire, or what, I don't care. As long as it works."

"And what are we going to do?" Elena was interested, her first mission had been a success and she was eager for more. Besides it was all very excited, sort of like an action movie, but better because she was actually playing a role.

"We are gonna pay attention to what's goin' on in the underworld, so to speak," Reno started to grin, a good sign considering he'd been fairly solemn most of the afternoon, "A lot of listening, pretty boring actually, but one of my favorite parts of this job. You can go wherever the hell you want, dressed normally, not in this crap," Reno tugged at this collar, making a face, even though it was extremely loose due to the several undone buttons, "You can go sit in a bar, or whatever all night long and no one here cares as long as you have something to report. Only time Tseng's not gonna bitch about responsibility and shit."

"An excellent pool of information is to be found at the source. Now AVALANCHE wouldn't consider themselves in the same league as your average gang or crime-ring, but in those circles, if something's going on, it pays to know about it. And tongues tend to loosen in bars, and the like. There's a lot to be heard if you simply sit and listen," Rude pointed out the more practical high points of undercover work, contrasting Reno's description.

"Yeah, that too," Reno grinned, putting his arms on the table and leaning his head on them, "So we just gotta wait until Tseng figures out some random crap like when and where, and then the fun begins!"

_Author's Note: End of update! Please do leave a review. Thank you guys so much, you are what makes all this wonderful stuff possible! I wouldn't be anywhere near so inspired to write if I didn't know at least a few people out there were waiting to read. =) Love you guys!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Author's Note: Friday is update day! Hurray! Here is an update, fairly long, and a tad random because I wasn't entirely sure what I should be doing with this. I believe I have it figured out though, and I hope you guys like long stories because this could easily by twice the size of my usual ones. To those of you who don't like long stories and may be turned off by that statement, it's not that long. =) *blatant contradictions* =D Just keep reading, that's all you need to know. Oh, and review! xD I love getting reviews, even the "negative" ones. There is actually sometimes very good pointers hidden under the rough and crusty exterior of someone who maybe is not skilled in the social arena, or maybe someone with a superiority complex, or I don't know what. The point is, review. xD LOVE YOU GUYS! I'm going to shut up and let you read now. =)_

"Tseng," Reno whined, collapsing on the man's desk so all the paperwork and the keyboard was successfully blocked. "I'm bored." He dragged the word out as long as he could for maximum effect. Tseng pushed the redhead off his desk irritably.

"I don't care. Stop complaining and go find something to do," Tseng reached out and snatched the pen holder that Reno had subtly been trying to slip into Rude's pocket.

Reno had suggested they go see what progress Tseng had made. The other two should have known Reno would never have such a productive end in mind.

"Fine I'll go work at my desk then," Reno grumbled, leaving the room with a huff. Tseng looked up and blinked.

"Did he go?" He looked from Rude to Elena.

"It…looks like it," Elena responded, a little surprised, as the others were, that Reno had given up that easily.

"Hmm," Tseng frowned at the empty doorway for a moment, and then a small smile appeared on his face. "Well I knew he'd grow up someday and realize he has a responsibility towards his paperwork as well as field work. I should get back to _my _work so why don't you take Elena and go over her paperwork with her. She has just completed her first mission." Tseng handed them two files, marked with their names.

Elena sat in Rude's office for the next thirty minutes, doing her assigned paperwork mostly on her own, receiving slight direction every now and then. Finally signing her name on the last dotted line, Elena put down her pen with a triumphant flourish.

"Let's go find Reno and figure out something to do," Rude suggested, finishing shortly after her. He carefully placed their papers back in the files, leaving them in a neat stack on the edge of his desk.

Elena rose from the chair, cracking her knuckles before leaving the room ahead of Rude. They walked the short distance to Reno's office in silence. The redhead's door was partly open, so Rude pushed it the rest of the way, but they both stopped short before walking in. Not only was Reno not in his office, but his desk and chair weren't there either. Excepting the junk that had been on top of the desk, everything else was were it normally was, basically, complete disarray.

"Um, what's happening?" Elena turned to Rude, hoping he would have an answer.

"What's happening," Rude repeated, seeming a bit at a loss, "Reno is happening. He's probably doing something stupid that he thinks is funny. Let's go find him before he gets himself fired or worse." Rude turned abruptly into the hall, only to stop and look both ways. He scratched his bald head, appearing to struggle with which direction they should pursue.

"Ok, we're going to do what Reno would do," Rude headed for the elevators, several feet down the plain beige hallway, "We're going to go watch the security camera feeds until we can find him."

"Smart," Elena was relieved. She was looking for something to do, but she in no way wanted her afternoon to involve searching the entire Shinra headquarters building by hand for an extremely elusive redhead. _At least he'd stand out._ She smirked as Rude pressed the down button on the wall. _Plus I assume he is with or near his desk. That would help. _As she laughed inside, picturing the ridiculous scene that would be, the doors slid open and her laughs died off as the two of them remained frozen where they were.

"Hey," Reno smiled at them from his desk, which had been maneuvered into the large, but not huge, elevator. It must have taken quite some skill to maneuver the piece of furniture in. There was now hardly any standing room, most of the floor being taken up by Reno's desk and chair.

"What are you doing?" Elena blurted out, completely stunned by this latest stunt of his. She had no idea what she'd been expecting to find him doing, but this certainly hadn't been it.

"I am workin' darlin'," Reno replied, slipping into his lazy drawl as he kicked his feet up on the wall, "So if you guys are headin' somewhere, get in and let's go. If not stop blockin' the door." Reno twirled a pen absently between long fingers, grinning at their startled faces.

"Just get out," Rude spoke firmly, but you could hear the amusement in his voice.

"Why?" Reno demanded, settling down comfortably in his chair as if to display how much he was going to stay put. "I'm doin' my work. I'm just never good enough, huh?" Reno mocked hurt, putting his pen down with a bang and crossing his arms. "If I do nothin', I'm supposed to be workin', when I start workin' ya start bitchin'. I just can't win can I? 'Laney, take pity on me!" He turned pleading aqua eyes on her, which might actually have pulled sympathy from her, except for the use of the nickname she loathed.

"No, Reno, stop being ridiculous and get out of the elevator," Elena was surprised seconds later as she looked back on what she'd said. She was surprised she had spoken to a superior so belligerently. _It's hard to remember though._ She comforted herself while watching Reno and Rude try and stare each other down. Elena was betting on Rude. _Reno doesn't behave like a superior._

"What's going on here?" An oddly familiar voice broke into Elena's thoughts and Reno and Rude's staring contest.

"Oh hey, Rufus," Reno didn't seem phased in the least by the appearance of his boss while he was occupying the elevator with his desk. The tall blonde man had just stepped off one of the other elevators in the group and was standing by observing their gathering with a sort of amused smirk.

"Nothin' much, just workin'," Reno replied, saving the other two who were attempting to figure out how to answer that seemingly simple question. "What brings you down from your super posh office?" Reno appeared to have no struggle with talking to anyone, no matter how much above his position they were.

"Well funny you should ask, Reno," Rufus strolled closer, leaning against the open door of the elevator, "You see one of my mako reactors had pieces blown to bits last night and I was just wondering how that was allowed to happen." The man looked pleasant enough, but there was a hard tone in his voice that Elena picked up on. She would never have answered Rufus Shinra as Reno did.

"Oh, I'll tell you how it happened," Reno grinned, acting as if he didn't pick up on the subtle insult against them, "Some people broke in and put explosives on stuff and then blew it up. That's how it happened."

"Never was one for the details," Rufus commented, "Well not accurate details, that is." A smirk, rivaling Reno's in Elena's opinion, made it's way onto Rufus' face. "But never mind. I'll hear all about it from Tseng now."

"Yeah, I was askin' Tseng just this morning how he could've been so irresponsible as to let that happen. Hopefully he can clear things up for ya," Reno smirked after the man as Rufus headed towards Tseng's office, not commenting on Reno's parting statement. Seeing the redhead's smirk, Elena had to change her opinion and mentally mark Reno's smirk as untouchable once again. Rufus didn't even come close.

"Get out of the elevator, or I'll make you get out," Rude said in a voice so quiet, it was almost a whisper. He sounded very serious.

"I'd like to see you try," Reno cracked his knuckles and grinned like the maniac he was.

Without a word, Rude stepped into the small space there was left in the elevator and, grabbing Reno's collar with both hands, tossed the redhead over his shoulder. The swiftness with which Rude had moved surprised Elena and Reno, who was not prepared for the move his co-worker had made. It didn't take Reno long to recover from the shock though, and he was flailing in an instant, hitting his head on the top of the elevator doorway as Rude stepped back into the hall.

"Put me down right now!" Reno elbowed the back of Rude's neck, while rubbing his head where it had hit. He was clearly enraged. Rude, laughing hard, dropped Reno roughly. Before his feet touched the ground, the redhead had hooked a leg around, knocking Rude in the back of the knees. With a small yelp of surprise, Rude stumbled, swinging a punch at Reno. Reno ducked, missing getting his face smashed, but getting an arm around his throat instead. This successfully dragged both men to the ground where both seemed determined to get up before the other, resulting in a swiftly pulling, punching, and kicking heap on the ground. Elena watched the comical scene, not sure if she should laugh or make them stop. She decided to go for a little of both, calling at them to quit between fits of laughter. Of course they completely ignored her, if they could even hear her above Reno's colorful and frequent curses. When she heard the familiar ding of the elevator doors sliding shut behind her, Elena only started laughing harder, making her gasp for breaths. She couldn't stop it in time, and the elevator, along with Reno's desk and chair, disappeared behind silver doors for destinations unknown.

Collapsing against the doors in a fit of laughter, Elena caught sight of something down the hall, which made her struggle desperately to quit laughing. Rufus Shinra, having just exited Tseng's office, was in the process of closing the door behind him when he heard and caught sight of the commotion not too far away from him in the hallway.

"Excuse me," Rufus poked his head back into Tseng's office, "But now your Turks appear to be having a wrestling match in the hallway here." The man's voice was completely smooth and even, portraying not an ounce of anger or annoyance. Elena wanted so hard to laugh at the alarmed look on Tseng's face when he rushed out of his office. Only the slightly scornful look on Rufus' face kept her from bursting into a new fit of hilarity.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tseng hissed, reaching out and grabbing Reno's collar, ripping him off the floor and tossing him against the wall. Rude picked himself up, carefully straightening his suit and brushing the dust off. It was clear he was trying to compose himself as quickly as possible.

"Why the hell do people keep tossing me around like a bag of potato chips?" Reno huffed, annoyance obvious on his face and in his tone as he roughly pulled his already messy suit back into some semblance of order.

"Because you weigh about the same," Rude said, grinning at the anger that quickly appeared on Reno's face.

"I do not!" Reno would have lashed out at Rude against, except Tseng pushed him back.

"You are an extremely lightly built person, Reno," Tseng pointed out, explaining calmly although there was a slight twitch to his face, "Accept it and move on."

"Fine, but not anywhere near being light enough to compare me to a bag of chips!" Reno crossed his arms and settled for glaring at everyone, including Rufus who still watched the proceedings, now with an amused look. Apparently Reno was touchy as far as his weight was concerned.

"You are the one who compared yourself to the chips in the first place," Elena pointed out, having gotten off the floor now that her laughter had been checked, "But you're right, a bag of chips is a ridiculous thing to compare you to. Potato chips actually taste good." She couldn't resist the slight jab, and was rewarded by seeing Reno bristle up again. Her triumph lasted all of five seconds until a deadly smirk appeared on his face.

"Oh really?" All the anger had disappeared from his voice, like footsteps smoothed off the sand by a wave, "That's not what you said when I kissed you."

Elena's eyes went wide. A wave of red hit her cheeks as she remembered the day in the hospital when Reno had taken the liberty of making-out with her. She tried to ignore the fact that she really hadn't tried to stop him either.

"I didn't say anything," Elena said quickly, removing the possibility of someone there thinking she had made a comment involving Reno and taste…

"Wait, that actually happened?" Rude asked, taking his sunglasses off, a rare occurrence, to polish them on his shirt. His chocolate brown eyes expressed deep surprise. Reno leaned back against the wall, a satisfied smirk on his face. Elena stammered, blushing furiously as she realized that she had unwittingly confirmed that this kiss had actually taken place.

"Well don't torture the poor girl," Rufus intervened, reaching over to push the elevator button, "You all know Reno and his habits. Are you really surprised? Tseng, keep your Turks in line." He stepped into his elevator, leaving them all in an extremely awkward silence. At least Elena found it incredibly awkward, she was pretty sure Reno didn't care by the look on his face and his relaxed attitude.

"So not only does Rufus Shinra come to see me personally about an incident, but he informs me when he arrives that my Turks have moved their offices to the elevators, and then points out when he leaves that you are attacking each other in the halls!" Tseng didn't seem awkward or relaxed. He was very angry.

"Damn, you really make him sound like a bitch," Reno commented with a grin.

"It's not his fault, Reno!" Tseng turned on the redhead instantly, "It's yours!"

"What? You can't go blaming everything wrong with the world on me," the redhead complained, still seeming very unconcerned with what was going on, "Although I do probably have a role in everything wrong with the world."

"Well I don't know what happened here, though believe me I will have every last detail before long, but I can be certain that anything about offices and elevators is another stupid prank of yours," Tseng fumed on, getting closer and closer to the offending redhead with every step, "And as far as fighting in the halls, I highly doubt Rude started that, or that Elena here jumped you, or some other such nonsense. I let you get away with too much, Reno. You have to be a professional!" Tseng had grabbed Reno's collar and pulled him away from the wall, making him stand up straight for once. In the blink of an eye, Reno's hand had latched on to Tseng's wrist with the iron grip Elena knew he possessed.

"Don't you dare throw me again," Reno said, his voice low but laced with dangerous tones. There was a tense silence for a moment before Tseng replied in an equally low voice.

"Let go of me."

Nothing happened for a second, and Elena felt she could feel the tension crackling in the air until Reno roughly removed his grip on Tseng's wrist, and Tseng let go of Reno's collar. The still-present tension was interrupted by the now-infamous elevator doors opening to reveal a very perplexed secretary type, slipping out past Reno's desk. She looked startled to see them all there, but quickly moved past without a word.

"Oh my…" Tseng rubbed the bridge of his nose with a sigh, staring in disbelief at the desk taking up most of the room in the elevator, "Reno, put that back where it belongs. Rude, come with me. I've got to get some stuff together for you guys to do. Elena, go prep for a mission. I assume you remember the items you will need."

Elena nodded, although Tseng wasn't even watching her. As she went toward her office at a clipped pace, the other others went about their various tasks without another word spoken.

Elena snapped the last piece of her pistol back in place, having just taken it apart and gone over the whole thing in preparation for their next mission. She'd gone weeks without going on a mission and without seeing any of them go on missions, and now she was involved in two in one day! _Guess this job's like that. Fairly unpredictable._

"Yo, stop daydreamin' and come on," Reno leaned into the room briefly, "Tseng's dug up some retarded mission for us." Elena followed quickly, stowing the last of her stuff in their respective places. Tseng's office door was open and Rude was already there, seated comfortably in one of the big plush chairs. Elena took a seat hastily, not wanting to risk annoying Tseng any more today.

"So what's it this time?" Reno demanded, choosing to lean lazily on the back of a chair instead of sitting down.

"Where's your tie, Reno?" Tseng ignored Reno's question, posing one of his own instead, "You know it's part of the uniform." Apparently Tseng hadn't been joking when he'd told Reno to be more professional.

"Aw, come on!" Reno complained, putting his head down on the back of the chair for a moment before looking up again, "Seriously? I haven't worn that piece of crap in forever and you never cared before."

"Well I do now," Tseng said, opening a drawer in his desk and producing a plain black tie, "And I know you haven't worn it in forever since it's right here, where you left it last time you tried to 'lose' it."

"I told you I should have thrown it out the window," Reno glared at Rude, who just shrugged in reply.

"Put it on, Reno, and then I will tell all of you what your mission is since you can't seem to control yourselves well enough to be left without something productive to do," Tseng gave them all a berating glance while handing the tie to Reno who reluctantly accepted it.

"This tie is trying to choke me!" Reno whined, pulling at the messily tied piece of clothing which was more lose than was normal anyway.

"I can understand the urge," Tseng commented dryly.

"Very funny," Reno sat down in the chair roughly, bouncing slightly for a second. He kept tugging at the offending tie, but didn't say anything else. Elena didn't imagine he would hang onto it for long. _Pity. He looks pretty good with it. Well he looks pretty good without it too, _Elena couldn't help but think.

"Anyway," Tseng, now satisfied that Reno's uniform was as close to standard as it was going to get, opened up a folder on his desk, "One of Shinra's corporate employees has been suspected lately of diverting funds. Recently, a good deal of evidence has been discovered confirming this suspicion. Now Shinra could fire him of course, but he seems to be fairly knowledgeable in the workings of the place and they don't want to risk an information leak. He's also fairly useful, so instead of simply getting rid of him, we're to frighten him so that he quits stealing. Not complicated. Here's all the info." Tseng handed Reno the file.

"Easy enough," Reno flipped through it quickly as they all stood, ready to depart.

"I'm driving," Rude said quietly as they waited in the elevator to arrive at their floor.

"Fine, whatever," Reno frowned down at his tie as he continued pulling at it. Elena was surprised he agreed to it, but she wasn't about to complain. She couldn't spar any more time taken off her life span by those harrowing rides.

Rude's driving was much more conservative than Reno's, and actually legal to begin with. Their destination turned out to be an apartment suite covering the entire top floor of one of the nicest buildings Midgar had to offer. The elevator in this building was just as nice as the Shinra headquarter elevators. This one however had more of a comfort feel instead of the sleek, corporate feel that pervaded all things Shinra.

"So how are we going to do this?" Rude asked calmly, apparently not too concerned that they were almost on the floor of their criminal and still had no game plan.

"Well, I'm thinkin' we sit down and have a little chat, tell him how it is," Reno shrugged, tapping his leg restlessly with his fingers, "He'll understand and what he decides to do about it is his problem."

"A bit gentle," Rude commented, his tone reflecting neither positively or negatively towards this observation.

"Oh," Reno rolled his head around to grin at Rude, "We'll definitely make sure he understands the gravity of the situation. Just follow my lead for now." Strolling casually out of the elevator, Reno approached one of the two doors in the small entrance chamber. One was labeled as the stairs, and the other had a number engraved on a gold plaque. This was the door Reno approached, with as much ease as if he was paying a call on an old friend. Reno firmly pushed the buzzer with one long finger. Almost instantly, a middle-aged woman dressed neatly in a crisp white blouse and dark navy skirt answered. She looked a bit startled, but spoke politely anyway.

"How may I help you?" She looked curiously at all three of them, but focused most of her attention on Reno since he was standing at the front of their group.

"We've got business with Mr. uh…." Reno struggled to come up with the name, "Just the guy who lives here, you know who I'm talking about. The point is, you're going to kindly show us in and go grab your boss or whatever and bring him to us. Got it?"

"Can I have the name of who is visiting?" the woman hardened at Reno's rough delivery, but seemed extremely wary.

"Turks," Reno smirked, amused by the fear that appeared on her face, "But you won't tell him that if you know what's good for you. Tell him there are visitors, that's really all we are." The woman didn't say another word, instead she stood aside, opening the door fully to allow them inside. Closing the door behind them with an almost silent click, she led them to a sort of parlor, elegantly decorated.

"I'll go tell him at once," she said meekly, closing the double doors to the room behind her. Reno at once made himself at home, ambling into the beautiful room. The place wasn't very large, but had high ceilings and a wall of windows which opened it up considerably. Being on top of the plate, and fairly high up, the room actually caught all the sunlight there was to catch in Midgar. There was a shiny chandelier hanging from the ceiling, supplementing the weak sunlight. The floors were polished wood, covered mostly by a thick and soft oriental rug. There were several pieces of furniture in the room, including a deep, white sofa and several matching chairs. In a corner of the room, a shiny black grand piano stood, commanding the attention of the whole area with it's subtle grandeur.

"So what now?" Elena asked, standing awkwardly near the entrance. She couldn't exactly make herself at home like Reno appeared to have done. He was now slouching in one of the pristine white chairs, looking a bit out of place in the orderly and classy room.

"How about you and Rude sort of stand out of his sight, over there by the doors," Reno gestured to the wall on either side of the double doors, "For starters ya can keep him from running if he feels the urge." Reno glanced around the whole room quickly. "There aren't any phones in here, so I doubt we're gonna have to keep him away from anything. He's not gonna jump out a window from this height either, so just watch the door for now. You'll know if ya need to step in later."

Rude and Elena nodded, taking their positions with no time to answer before one of the doors opened, revealing an older man dressed neatly in a black suit. He got halfway in the door before stopping suddenly, seeing his guest for the first time. In his surprise, he didn't have time to back out before Rude calmly shut the door behind him, standing firmly in front of them, forcing the man into the room. Elena was nervous, afraid something would go wrong, but the others seemed completely calm and in complete control.

"Hey," Reno smiled, still sitting casually in the huge chair, "Nice place ya got here. Job pays well, I take it?" He laughed at his own joke.

"What are you doing here?" the man tried his best to sound angry, but the deep underlying fear was unmistakable in his voice.

"So you know who we are?" Reno asked, flicking a few stray strands of blood red hair out of his face.

"You're Turks," the man swallowed loudly, glancing behind him at Rude and Elena, strategically standing between him and the only exit.

"Great job," Reno grinned, and gestured towards the big couch across from his chair, "Feel free to sit down. You might as well be comfortable."

"Thank you, I'll stand," the man said dryly, not taking kindly to being made to feel the guest in his own home.

"Suit yourself," Reno stretched out his long, lanky, legs, letting his eyes roam lazily across the ceiling. After an awkward minute of silence, the man shifted uncomfortably.

"Why are you here?" the man demanded, once again attempting to regain control of the situation. Reno was not about to be phased by a bit of a harsh tone however, and finished his detailed examination of the ceiling before replying.

"Why do you think we're here?" Reno's piercing aquamarine eyes locked on the man, only making him more nervous.

"Well, I…I can't imagine why."

"Really?" Reno picked himself out of the chair and paced over to the floor-to-ceiling windows, taking a minute to look over the view of the grey city, "Did ya think it could be about your nasty little habit of giving yourself bonuses?" Reno looked over his shoulder to observe the effect this statement had on the man. He looked startled and took a long moment to reply.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," the man was clearly extremely nervous, his fingers fidgeting furiously at his sides.

"Hmm, let me make it clear for you," Reno turned around and strolled across the room, ending up by the large piano, "You've got your hand in the cookie jar. You're supplementing your salary. There are endless ways I can say this." Reno slid onto the cushioned black bench accompanying the piano, and gently let his fingers fly over the keys, producing a delightfully light and merry sound. "We could say stealing. Oh, that's a harsh one," Reno struck a particularly deep chord to accent 'stealing'. A playfully random tune slowly appeared through the seemingly pointless collection of pleasant notes. "Get it?" Reno glanced lazily at the man, who collapsed roughly in one of the plush white chairs, his head in his hands.

"Damn," he muttered, shaking his head.

"Ah, you remember now," Reno continued playing random snatches of tunes, all very different but flowing one to another effortlessly, "So I'm sure you understand how serious this is. We can't let you get away with it obviously." The man started to clearly panic now, evidently scared witless by his seemingly impending death. "We could kill you in any number of ways. Like this tie, for example. We could hang you with this tie, and it would give me an excuse to be rid of it. But that would be so predictable, don't you think? I prefer to mix it up a bit every now and then." Elena watched Reno coolly break the man down with fascination. It also helped that she had no idea he could play the piano. Reno hadn't struck her as the kind of person to know something like that. Then again, he'd been surprising her since she started working for Shinra.

With a complicated flourish of sorts, Reno left the piano and came to stand directly in front of their man. "You have four hours to write a check for every last penny you helped yourself to. I suggest you take it personally over to the desk of Rufus Shinra and have them handle it right then and you'd better pray it doesn't bounce, because by the time four hours is up all it takes is a nod for me to put a bullet between your eyes. Or we could break your nose in such a fashion that the bone burrows into your brain. Whatever I feel like at the time. I'm done here. Hopefully I won't have to see you later. Three hours and fifty-eight minutes." Reno left the man frantically checking his watch. With a nod from the redhead, Rude opened the doors and they all left, passing the distressed maid who had let them in. Elena had strange sort of adrenaline surge. She felt once again as if she was in an action movie. Unbidden, certain words Reno had spoken to her days ago came into her head. _"It may seem like fun. Like being a super secret spy or somethin'. But wait until they tell ya to do somethin' you don't want any part of. Then it's kill or be killed."_ She had a moment of strangely frightened curiosity. She wondered if and when she'd ever be faced with such a situation. _Maybe soon._ The thought dampened her mood, and she drew her attention back to the present.

Walking right out of the apartment, not even bothering to close the door behind them, they entered the posh elevator, apparently not interested in waiting for a goodbye.

_Author's Note: Yay! Update! =) Hope you guys enjoyed! If you're interested in reading more right now, and you've already read all my junk =P go ahead and check out "Lithium" and "Slither" by renoxxxXXXxxx. Something like that. Also "Bloodied Needles" and "Bloodied Soul" by Naril! All four of those are rather dark, but whatever. I enjoy them. So YOU AMAZING PEOPLE! Feel free to review also. xD LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!_


	11. Chapter 11

_Author's Note: Update time! =) It's not super long, but I was having a lot of trouble writing this week so it's not surprising. _

"Tell Rufus a guy might be comin' to see him about some misplaced cash," Reno leaned around the doorframe into Tseng's office, not bothering to knock, "If he doesn't show, I'll be busy tonight." Reno grinned, making Elena extremely glad she was not the man with the sticky fingers.

"Excellent," Tseng answered, looking up at the three Turks crowded in the doorway, "I actually have a job for you three tonight. Of course, that is unless you, Reno are not otherwise occupied this evening. I want you to go together."

"You'd better not be sending us on a stake-out," Reno warned, "Cause those are borin' as hell, and I ain't goin'."

"Well, first of all, yes, you would go if I told you to," Tseng rolled his eyes, settling back in his chair, "And secondly, no, it is not a stake-out. We need information on who, although it appears to be AVALANCHE, attacked our reactor and why. Although their reason too is fairly obvious. In the interest of picking up information, you will all stay out reasonably late frequenting these establishments." Tseng held out a printed sheet of paper, waiting for someone to come and take it. Reno stayed right where he was of course, but Rude stepped forward quickly and took the single sheet with it's neatly typed names and addresses. They all appeared to be bars, clubs, and the like. "All of these locations are places we have obtained information before. Reno and Rude, you should be familiar with most of these."

"Oh, I love that place," Reno commented, glancing over the sheet briefly before Rude folded it and put it in his jacket pocket, "I know every single one of those."

"You would," Rude replied, quietly, but with a small smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean, baldy?" Reno shot back instantly. Rude's answer was cut off by the ringing of the phone on Tseng's desk.

"Hello?" Tseng picked it up, waving at the others to be quiet, "Yes, we paid him a visit earlier today…Thank you, sir." Elena could guess the topic of the short conversation even though she couldn't hear what was said on the other end of the line.

"That was Rufus," Tseng looked up at them when he hung up the phone, "He was just personally delivered a substantial check by an extremely nervous employee. He was curious if we had anything to do with it."

"I love how you said 'we' even though you had nothing to do with it," Reno pointed out, grinning at the slight twitch of annoyance that appeared for a second on Tseng's face.

"So clearly your services will not be required by that gentleman this evening," Tseng ignored Reno's comment, moving right on, "I expect a full report of the night's information in the morning. And the paperwork from your last little excursion should be completed today. Once you've done that, you may go home. Civilian dress is required for this sort of work. Arrange between yourselves when and where to meet, but don't be too long in getting started. It's already late afternoon."

"Anything else?" Reno said sarcastically, "You want Shinra headquarters moved a few inches to the left? Or how about being ten years younger?"

"Thirty is not old, Reno," Tseng glared at him momentarily, "And my expectations are not unreasonable. They will become so if you keep wasting time here."

"Whatever." They all left the room, Reno first and Rude carefully closing the door behind them. Elena was surprised to hear that Tseng was only thirty. She had never thought he was old, but he had such an air of wisdom and maturity that is usually found around those more advanced in years. _Tseng doesn't look old either._ There wasn't a gray hair on his head. Granted, she hadn't gone up and looked closely to see, but it certainly didn't look like it. Now she started wondering about the exact ages of her other co-workers. _Reno apparently teases Tseng about being old, but he knows Tseng is thirty. So Reno can't be very close to thirty himself. _He looked younger than that anyway. He'd told her he started as a Turk when he was sixteen, but he hadn't said exactly how many years he'd been with Shinra. Elena knew even less about Rude, but he couldn't be very near thirty either. Judging from Reno's case, Shinra wasn't too particular about age requirements, so she had no idea how old they were at least. _I'm twenty-two. They can't be too far off that._

"Reno, how old are you?" Elena asked, unable to figure it out on her own.

"Old enough to make anything you'd wanna do with me legal," Reno smirked over his shoulder at her, "But if you're lookin' for a number, twenty-three."

"Pervert," Elena glared at the redhead, who didn't seem concerned in the least to hear this. He just winked and kept walking. "Rude?"

"Twenty-five," Rude replied from behind her. _So Rude is older. Not surprising._

"And you, 'Laney?" Reno turned to walk backwards down the hall, grinning at her, "As long as we're askin'."

"Twenty-two," she answered, not caring that she was the youngest in the group. Petty details like that stopped mattering years and years ago.

"Ah, so it's legal. Good," Reno commented.

"What is?" the blonde eyed him suspiciously, awaiting his answer with a mixture of curiosity and anxiety.

"You're past drinkin' age," Reno replied, the expression on his face clearly showing that he knew exactly what she'd been dreading he was going to say, "Not that I usually care about those ridiculous details, and these places will let ya in regardless, but it's still best to stay under the radar for what we're doin'."

"Paperwork, Reno," Rude shoved a file with a couple papers inside at the redhead, who stepped away from it as if it would bite, "Come on, Reno. We don't have time for you to slack right now."

"Oh, fine," Reno grumbled, snatching his file from Rude and slipping into his office, slamming the door roughly behind him.

"He'd better actually do it," Rude commented, absentmindedly handing Elena her file of paperwork.

"Ha, we'll just have to wait and see," she replied, taking her file much gentler than Reno had and entering her own office. It didn't take long to fill out the few pieces of paper there were. It had been a simple mission, and there were no injuries so it was very basic paperwork. She was about to turn her computer off and leave to get ready as Tseng had told them, when an email popped up, from Reno, telling her to meet at the entrance of the Shinra headquarters building in an hour. The same message had been sent to Rude. She replied quickly, just so he'd know she got it. _He probably doesn't care._ She went ahead and sent the confirmation anyway.

Exactly an hour later, Elena was back, waiting outside dressed in a pair of black pants and a red top. She had decided to wear something cute, but still casual and fairly average so as not to attract too much attention. Rude showed up about the same time she did. Elena probably wouldn't have recognized him without the suit except for the familiar baldness and sunglasses combo. He was wearing a crisp, white, button up shirt and a pair of black jeans.

"You look nice, Rude," Elena smiled at her co-worker, reflecting on how different even just a change of clothes made. _Not that he didn't look nice before. Rude looks very good in a suit._

"You too," Rude returned the compliment with a slight nod of his head, standing near her and looking around for Reno. "I guess it would be ridiculous to assume he might be on time."

"Yeah, that's what I would think," Elena sighed and pulled her cell phone from her pocket to check the time. _Ten minutes late. _"I can't imagine Reno takes very long to get ready. Why is he late all the time?"

"I have no idea," Rude shrugged, "You never know with Reno. But I do know he takes about five minutes tops to get ready so I have no clue what takes him so long."

"He probably gets distracted by something."

"Something shiny, or something that makes a weird noise, anything really," Rude shook his head, "Reno is very easily distracted." Elena laughed, seeing the truth in Rude's words.

"I'm what?" Reno said from behind them.

"Easily distracted," Rude answered at once, as they both turned to see Reno approach.

"Am not," Reno shot back, his frown quickly turning to a happy expression as his gaze drifted swiftly to the ground in front of him, "Look, money!" He instantly bent down and picked up the coin from the concrete, holding it triumphantly. Elena and Rude's poorly restrained laughter drew Reno's attention, making him realize the source of their hilarity.

"Don't say anything," he glared at them, putting the coin in the pocket of his tattered jeans that looked a little big for him anyway. He wore a simple black t-shirt, completing the group's 'under the radar' look. His long blood red hair was still in it's usual ponytail and the numerous strands that would fall over his eyes were held back by the dark goggles he always wore on his head. Elena wondered if he ever actually used them for anything, or if their one purpose was keeping his hair out of his face.

"Alright, done laughing?" Reno questioned, not amused, as their laughing subsided, "Good, then let's go. We're walking."

"Draws less attention?" Elena asked, still chuckling about how easily distracted by the shiny coin Reno had been.

"Yes. You're capable of learning! Hurray," Reno couldn't resist the jab and was rewarded by a playful punch in the back, "Hey, watch it. I'm going to try and enjoy the semblance of not-working that exists in this situation, and that doesn't include you attacking me."

"Why do you hate work so much, Reno?" the blonde sped up a little to fall into stride next to him as they both followed Rude, "It's really not that bad if you just settle down and do it."

"Who said I hated work?" he looked at her with a grin and a twinkle in his eyes, "I love work. It fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours."

"Ha ha, really funny," she rolled her hazelnut eyes, looking down at her feet briefly. It was hard to keep up with Reno's long strides when she had shorter legs and was wearing heels besides. "All I'm saying is a little hard work never killed anyone."

"Maybe not," Reno grinned all the more, "But why take that chance?" Elena shook her head but couldn't avoid laughing.

"This is not an argument you can win," Rude said from a few feet in front of them, "Trust me. Many have tried and they have all failed. He has an answer for everything." Elena opened her mouth to utter a comeback of some kind, but was interrupted. "Everything," Rude reiterated. Elena closed her mouth.

"Yup," the redhead put his hands behind his head and looked up at the drab sky, composed of hues of bluish gray tinted with yellow as the sun set. "I could go on for hours so unless you want to have to tell Tseng we didn't learn anything because you were busy loosing an argument, that's not somewhere you wanna go." With a wink from a bright aqua eye, Reno's friendly warning was complete.

The un-amazing sunset was quickly covered by layers of steel and concrete as they descended below the plate of Sector 5. They'd picked the sector of the reactor that had been attacked in the hopes that being closer to the incident might influence the amount and quality of the information they hoped to obtain that night.

"Alright, you lead the way now," Rude fell back to walk on the other side of Elena as Reno took a sharp right.

"Our first stop is not too far from here," the redhead weaved in and out of the maze of connected alleys and narrow streets of the below-the-plate landscape. _He's got to have been here before. Many times. There is no other way someone could remember something this complicated so easily._

"And here we are," Reno said, stopping so suddenly Elena almost ran into him. He'd led them out of an alley right in front of one of the many buildings crammed on the narrow street. The area definitely wasn't nice, but there were many worse places in Midgar. The buildings were built of slightly crumbled brick, tall and thin with tiny alleys wedged between. The particular building they were interested in had black double doors with a colorful fluorescent sign displaying it's name above them. It flickered now and then, adding to the strange glow of the street caused by all the other fluorescent signs up and down the street. The few windows on the front of the building were covered from the inside by thick black curtains.

"Don't wander," Reno leaned back to impart this bit of information to Elena before pulling the heavy door open, allowing a wave of sound to hit them. The constant clink of glasses mixed with the hum of voices producing a ceaseless noise that felt almost visible, as present as the clouds of cigarette smoke that swirled through the air.

Elena had been to her fair share of bars, but they weren't the kind of place she frequented. She didn't like beer but their were several mixed drinks she really enjoyed. She didn't like drinking alone but was hesitant to go out with her friends because she never had been able to hold liquor well. After even two or three mild drinks she was quite tipsy and it just went downhill from there. So she wasn't overly familiar with bars, but from her limited knowledge Elena gathered that this particular bar wasn't extremely nice, neither was it shady. It seemed to be more in the middle ground, definitely closer to shady then nice however.

"How are we going to hear anything in here?" Elena asked, looking up at Reno. The noise wasn't overbearing, it was fairly mild actually, but she didn't know how they were going to overhear any conversation that wasn't being said loudly. And who walks around shouting about how they blew up Shinra property?

"You'd be surprised," Reno grinned at her, "There's always some dumbass who knows something he shouldn't and has a tendency to brag. Never hurts when such a dumbass gets his tongue loosened by a drink or two. You just have to sit around and wait for it."

"Patience?" Rude smirked, "That doesn't sound like you, Reno."

"Shut up," the redhead turned around to spit his tongue out at the other as the three made their way through the tables to the actual bar itself.

They settled themselves at the bar because it was the most centralized place in the busy room. Reno had insisted Elena get something because apparently it would be weird if she didn't. She hadn't wanted to, she'd rather not have even one just so her senses stayed 100%, but Reno was impossible to resist. _What kind of job let's you drink on duty? Then again, we get a salary to knock off anyone who pisses Shinra off. _With a mirthless laugh, Elena took a sip of her fruity drink.

"You drink like a girl," Reno smirked, watching her.

"I am a girl, Reno," Elena said sarcastically, "You may have noticed." She took another sip, more of a gulp this time to avoid further jokes at her expense. Something went down the wrong way and she spluttered a little, earning a laugh from the redhead.

"Don't hurt yourself, 'Laney," he took a large swig from the bottle of beer he had, glancing around the room absentmindedly. "Oh," Reno turned back and leaned on the counter, bringing his face closer to hers, "I have noticed you're a girl." His aqua eyes twinkled and he grinned.

"Stop flirting and pay attention to your work," Rude's said from Reno's other side where he was casually looking around the room. Reno backed off, turning away quickly to speak to Rude.

"I'm not and I am," he said quietly to Rude.

"Yes, you are and no, you're not," Rude replied, not bothering to take his eyes off the other customers of the bar.

"No, I'm-" Reno was cut off by a look from Rude. Neither of them spoke for a second. "Ok fine, I am," Reno said back, even quieter so that Elena could hardly hear, "So just shut up and I'll pay attention."

The silence that followed was a bit awkward. Rude had indeed shut up, or maybe he just had nothing else to say. They all watched the crowd now, the atmosphere just awkward enough to keep a conversation from starting again. Elena wasn't sure why she was surprised by this development. _Well it's not surprising that Reno was flirting. He's doesn't seem really picky about who he flirts with either so it's nor surprising he would flirt with me. _She finally pinned down what had surprised her about this situation. _Well, confused is probably a more accurate term. _Reno hadn't seemed very comfortable talking about it, even denying it at first. He'd shut Rude up pretty quickly too. _Why? _Elena pondered this for a bit over her drink, drawn out of her thoughts by a feeling. She felt that she was being watched. She subtly glanced to the side, eliminating Reno, as he was looking in the opposite direction.

Absentmindedly allowing her empty drink to be replaced, she started searching the crowd for a culprit. She found him so suddenly it startled her. A man in a corner table along with several friends was staring at her intensely. Their eyes locked for a moment before the man's gaze moved on, although Elena could tell he was carefully scrutinizing her co-workers as well. Elena sipped her drink, watching the man and his group with a puzzled look. There was a strong sense of malice she felt from him that she couldn't explain. She had no idea who this guy was, why did she get the feeling he hated her?

"Did ya hear that?" Reno mentioned casually to both of them. Elena snapped her attention back to her fellow Turks, wondering what she'd missed.

"Maybe, what was it?" Rude asked.

"Big group at those tables towards the left," Reno put the empty bottle down behind him on the counter, "Didn't catch it all but one of 'em has got a big mouth. Said something to his buddies about avoiding the Sector three reactor in the near future."

"None of them are with AVALANCE," Rude commented, apparently having checked them all out even though Elena hadn't even seen his head move. _Guess those sunglasses have a good purpose._She had completely missed the dialogue they were talking about. This group was on the opposite side of the bar than the people she'd been watching.

"Yeah, but I heard 'explosion'," Reno argued, turning his back to the crowd and leaning on the counter. The others mimicked his move so they could talk more easily. "I told you there's always one dumbass who can't keep his mouth shut. Idiots."

"We'll see about getting some extra security in the Sector three reactor just in case then," Rude said, "Although I wish we had a better time frame than 'the near future'."

"Don't get greedy," Reno admonished, "We're standin' around doin' nothing but drinkin' and we pick up some fairly suspicious activity involving one of the reactors and you want a specific time? That's unreasonable." Reno grinned, enjoying the annoyed look on Rude's face.

"I know, I know," Rude started looking around the room again, and Elena took advantage of the lull in conversation to look back at the man she'd been watching earlier. His group had gone, leaving him alone at the table with an open cell phone that he was messing around with. While she watched, he glanced up at her, making her quickly look away. She couldn't figure out why she felt such anger coming from him.

"Enjoyin' those?" Reno nodded towards the two empty glasses in front of her and the third half-full in her hand.

"Oh," Elena was surprised, "I didn't realize how many I've had." She put the third glass down an turned her back on it, being careful not to look towards the corner of the room.

"Don't handle your drinks well?" Reno questioned with a small smile.

"How did you know?"

"It's sort of obvious," he replied, "You're fairly small so less body mass takes less alcohol to get drunk. Also you're not standing straight up, you're leaning to the side. And you just…look tipsy."

"Great, so I look drunk now?" Elena glared at him.

"Not drunk, just…tipsy. Like you probably couldn't walk in a straight line but you're not going to fall over. At least I don't think so. Are you?"

"No," Elena rolled her eyes, "I don't normally have more than one drink. I guess I don't have as much alcohol tolerance as some people."

"Yeah, those are the fun ones," Reno smirked.

"You're a pervert, you know that?"

"I actually get that a lot. Surprising, huh?"

"No," Rude interjected, startling Elena who hadn't realized the bald man had been listening, "So by the way, what's this about you kissing Elena, Reno?"

Elena blushed and looked away, wondering when in hell everyone would just forget about that little incident. Reno laughed, a small laugh.

"Oh that?" he paused to take a drink, "It's a really complicated story, you wouldn't want to hear it."

"I disagree, but let me ask just one question," Rude came back with quickly, "Would I side with you or Elena?" Elena risked a look at her co-workers. Reno was turned away from her and Rude looked at him sternly.

"'Laney," Reno muttered, "She was askin' for it though!"

"So you're trying to tell me you kissed her out of spite?" There was a long pause. Elena awaited the redhead's answer with mounting curiosity.

"You said just one question. That's two. But, since I'm a nice person I'll answer anyway. Yes," he answered, "But I'm not sayin' I didn't enjoy it." This last part was intriguing, arousing Elena's curiosity. She was too embarrassed to ask though and it drove her mad.

"Ah, now we're getting somewhere," Rude smiled calmly.

"Damn, just leave me alone already," Reno seemed to have reached his limit for then, roughly putting his beer bottle down and turning sharply to head for the door, "We've got information, I'm goin' home."

"Leaving us with the bill?" Rude commented.

"You've got the company credit card," Reno said over his shoulder, "What the hell is it for if not this?"

Rude shrugged and pulled the card used for business expenses out of his wallet.

"There's a very good reason why they gave this to me and not him," Rude nodded after the redhead who leaned against the wall by the door waiting for them with a look of irritation.

"I believe it," Elena replied, watching Reno curiously. _You never know what's going to set him off._

With the bill paid, Elena and Rude headed for the door. Taking one last look at her mysterious watcher, Elena found him texting without a spare glance for her. Shrugging it off, she decided it was one of those weird things you'd never be able to explain. Forgetting the man, she focused her attention on following Reno who led them through the maze of alleys and narrow streets without a word. Elena paid no attention to the route they were taking, trusting Reno to get them back to where they should be. Besides, she was tired and slightly tipsy from her drinks.

"Alright, you can get home from here right?" Reno stopped in front of the Shinra headquarters building, now closed.

"Sure," Elena replied. Reno leaned towards her, looking at her eyes closely.

"Yeah, you're fine," he backed off, content that she was in control of her senses well enough to get home. "Well, until tomorrow then." With this Reno started to walk off, but stopped when Rude called him.

"You _are _going home, right?"

"Yeah, I'm not that mad," Reno answered, walking again once Rude caught up to him. They were talking quietly, too quietly for Elena to hear as she turned in a different direction, toward her apartment. She didn't care though, just wanting to get home and go to bed.

_Author's Note: MWUHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA! *evil laughter* I know what happens in the next chapter and you don't. =P Not that I'm bragging or anything. =) So as far as this chapter is concerned, there was stuff I didn't like about it, but hey, it's never perfect so whatever. Let me know what you guys thought! The review button is right there, you know you want to push it. =) Thank you for reading!_


	12. Chapter 12

_Author's Note: HI! Sorry I forgot to update! It's been CRAZY in my life lately, and I hardly had time to write this week, and then I kept forgetting to update! I'm so sorry! But here's an update at last, so don't worry! Nothing terrible has happened to me! xD So I know I was all cliffhanger-ish in my author's note at the end of last week's update, and I fully intended to get to the part I was talking about in this chapter...but I didn't have time. So while excited things happen in this chapter, rest assured that NEXT chapter will be EVEN BETTER! *gasp* =) Anyway, I'm going to keep it quick because it's already super late here and I absolutely must write tonight or I will go insanse. =) ENJOY!_

"Ok, what did who do to Elena last night?" Tseng didn't look very amused, "And by who I mean you, Reno." They were in Rude's office, doing the paperwork from the last night's excursion. Rude, that is, was doing the paperwork. Reno was watching and distracting Rude. Tseng had just entered, leaning against the wall now with arms crossed.

"I didn't do anything to her!" Reno defended himself loudly, "Did she tell ya I did something to her?"

"No," Tseng replied, sitting down in one of the extra chairs, "But she's not here and she hasn't been late in her entire work history. I thought maybe she was avoiding you for some reason."

"Very likely assumption," Rude observed, calmly ignoring the angry look Reno gave him, "But I don't think he did anything to bother her."

"Thank you," Reno said sarcastically, kicking his feet up on Rude's desk.

"So where is she?" Tseng questioned.

"I dunno," the redhead shrugged, "She may have slept in, don't freak out. Not everyone is a freakin' workaholic like you."

"Yes, I know," Tseng stared pointedly at Reno, "I wouldn't classify either myself or Elena as 'workaholics', but instead as responsible adults who show up to work on time. Anyway, I'm sure there's a very good reason for why she is unable to be here on time. We will have to wait until she gets here to hear it."

"Wow, genius. What a great idea. I never could have figured that out," Reno rolled his eyes and flicked a stray strand of hair out of his face.

"Your insolence will get you shot one day," Tseng mentioned calmly.

"Are ya threatening to shoot me?"

"No, but there are plenty of people out there who don't have my patience."

"Well if I get shot, I get shot. Bummer," Reno grinned up at Tseng from his chair, "You know you won't miss me."

"You're not _that_ obnoxious," the Turk leader smiled wryly, "But you certainly have the potential. Help Rude with that paperwork. Use a pen, not crayons, and write in words, not pictures. Try to refrain from using so much language."

"Crayons, pictures, swearing, got it," Reno cracked his knuckles, leaning over the desk and grabbing one of the un-filled papers.

"Maybe she forgot where the building was," Reno commented, taking a gulp from the steaming coffee mug in his hand. They had finished the paperwork, Rude doing most of it, and now they were waiting for Elena to show up so they could go about the rest of their work for the day. She was already several hours late and there was still no sign of her.

"Ridiculous, everyone knows where the Shinra headquarters is. And how dumb do you have to be to miss a building as gigantic as this one and built in the center of a round city? You're insulting Reeve," Rude responded, leaned back in his chair staring at the ceiling.

"Calm down," Reno waved a hand at the other man lazily, apparently motioning for him to calm down, "And she _is _blonde." He grinned wickedly. Rude rolled his head to the side to give him a look. "Well I don't see you coming up with any explanations," Reno complained, taking another swig of hot coffee.

"How many cups of coffee have you had?" Rude asked, frowning at the mug.

"In my life? I have no clue, thousands at least," Reno didn't say anything else for a moment, just to get on Rude's nerves, "Today, I dunno. Somewhere around five."

"Put it down right now," Rude's eyes widened behind the sunglasses, "No one needs that much caffeine and certainly not you."

"But I like it," Reno held his mug protectively.

"No, stop it," Rude persisted, "The last thing we need is for you to get hyped up on caffeine."

"Hmm, you take this pretty seriously, huh? Because I would have thought the last thing we needed would have been for the building to blow up, or for the sun to burn out, or for a volcano to erupt underneath Midgar, but hey, clearly I'm wrong," Reno smiled innocently, taking a long and deliberate gulp of caffeine-laced liquid.

"I'm fairly certain all those events are directly linked to you being hyper," Rude said dryly, "If you want to drink it, fine, but I will not get involved in any crazy schemes of yours."

"I have no idea what you mean by 'crazy scheme'."

"Oh, well maybe some examples will jog your memory," Rude spoke sarcastically, lethargically staring at the ceiling again, "How about the time you thought it would be a good idea to rearrange the furniture in people's offices when they were on lunch break? Or the time you did a fake bomb scare? In a Shinra building, Reno. Not a good idea."

"Ah, I remember those," Reno smiled, reminiscing past days of hyper-ness, "You must understand I didn't mean for the bomb to explode. I guess I didn't wire it as falsely as I thought. It's really your fault for not supervising me closer."

"My fault?" Rude wasn't so relaxed anymore, "Now it's my fault?"

"Yes," Reno smirked, "When I asked you for a bomb, you should have dropped whatever you were doing and followed me around to make sure I didn't mess anything up."

"It was a small bomb! And it did go against my better judgment, but I thought you were smart enough to not do anything dumb with it."

"I'm smart enough to hack your email and send Hojo an email confessing your deepest love," Reno shot back quickly.

"That was an awkward week," Rude commented, making a face, "Only you could come up with something so deranged."

"The point is…." Reno's voice drifted off, making Rude look over at the redhead. He was staring into the depths of his mug with a puzzled look, "What is the point?" He looked up to Rude. "Was I trying to make a point?"

"No one can claim to know what you are ever trying to accomplish," Tseng interjected, coming through the open door unexpectedly, "And I pity any person who knows enough of your mind to predict your actions."

"Aw, sweet as ever, Tseng," Reno's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Elena's not here yet, I tried calling her cell and her home number and she didn't answer. I want you both to go to her apartment and see what's keeping her," Tseng ignored Reno's sarcastic comment, "She may just be ill but we're Turks, we always have to check."

"Hey, not a bad place," Reno nodded his approval when they came in sight of Elena's apartment building. It was a fairly standard above-the-Plate dwelling, definitely not fancy but far from trashy.

"Not everyone with the salary of a Turk chooses to live in such slummy parts of town as you, Reno," Rude commented, referring to the redhead's apartment which, while still above the Plate, was nowhere near as nice as it could have been.

"I've already told ya, I feel more comfortable there," Reno idly kicked a small chunk of concrete off the sidewalk, "I don't really fit in with the high-life types. Assholes, every last one of 'em anyway."

"I'll be sure to tell Rufus," Rude teased, agreeing for the most part on the inside however. The wealthy of Midgar had a tendency to flaunt their well-to-do-ness and generally be the assholes Reno labeled them as. "Which floor is her's?"

"Four," Reno answered at once. Tseng had given them the address, and neither had bothered to write it down. They never did, there was no need. Reno never forgot any combination of numbers he was presented with, and it was no big deal for him to remember street names and such either. "So I guess we could try knockin' first."

"Yes, that's the method most people use when paying a visit," Rude said sarcastically.

"Hey," Reno gave his co-worker a look while knocking vigorously on Elena's door, "Most places I go, I've got to break in. We're not like most people, Rude."

A moment of silence descended on them as they both listened carefully for any sounds from within. Nothing. Reno banged on the door again, louder this time, as if his first bombardment hadn't been announcement of their presence enough.

"Where the hell is she?" Reno complained, knocking a third time and still receiving no answer, "Can we break in now?" He looked back to Rude for affirmation.

"I don't know, you're the superior here."

"Oh, that's right," Reno grinned, "I say we break in." The words were hardly out of his mouth before he'd picked the lock with a stray paperclip found in his pocket. Nudging the door open with his foot, Reno entered the apartment followed closely by Rude.

"'Laney, your lock sucks, a five year old could pick that with his eyes closed. Tseng's freakin' out and made us come see what was takin' ya so long to get to work," Reno called loudly, pausing by the door. "She's not here," he said to Rude after about five seconds.

"How do you know that?" Rude questioned, "She could be sick and staying in bed."

"Well ya can go look if ya want, but I called her 'Laney and she never puts up with that no matter how she's feelin'."

"Who are you?" A stubborn and angry voice rang from the hallway. Both Turks turned sharply to see an older lady standing with her hands on her hips in the hall, glaring at them. "You don't belong in there! Get out at once or I'll call the authorities!"

"Who are _you_?" Reno returned the question, not appearing concerned by her threat in the slightest. Slightly taken a-back by his failure to react the way she'd hoped and the instant return of her question, she answered at once.

"I'm the landlady. I _will _call the police!" She renewed her threat with a warning shake of her finger this time.

"And if ya did, I'd tell 'em to turn right back around and go back wherever the hell they came from. And they'd listen," Reno paused, allowing the woman to process what he'd said for a moment, "Shinra." He spoke the word as an explanation, an excuse almost and she understood at once. The one simple word was sufficient to make her take an instinctive step back and change her tune entirely.

"Oh," she looked from Rude to Reno, "Well if you're looking for the girl who lives her, she's done nothing wrong! She's the sweetest young lady I've ever known."

"I know," Reno answered, "We're…friends."

"Well I don't think she'd associate with the likes of you," the old woman seemed to have regained her bravado, looking Reno up and down suspiciously, "But whether or not you are her friends, she's not in. She left last night and never came back." The disapproval was obvious on the landlady's face, but she didn't express it in her words. "She'll be back though, so run along and don't go breaking into people's homes anymore!"

"Wait, she never came back?" Reno lost all interest in the apartment and wandered the few steps into the hall, demanding answers from this woman.

"Nope, haven't seen hide nor hair of her since yesterday afternoon," the woman seemed significantly more comfortable now that Reno was disturbed.

The redhead turned and looked at Rude, a worried frown on his perplexed face. "Where'd she go?" The question was mumbled, not really to anyone. Everyone answered though with a shrug. Rude carefully closed Elena's apartment door behind him, deciding they were through in there.

"Come on," Reno made a quick decision and headed for the stairs swiftly.

"She's done nothing wrong!" the woman called after them urgently.

"I know," Reno paused to yell back at her, his usual coolness completely gone, "We're not going to hurt her."

"What happened?" Rude asked, knowing there was no way Reno could know that, but asking anyway.

"I have no idea," Reno replied, his voice sounding a little distant, letting Rude know that his mind was racing through thousands of possibilities and scenarios, "But believe me," Reno cast a determined look over his shoulder, "We're going to find out."

_Author's Note: Yeah! Mysterious and suspenseful! xD Also, BE NICE! I've gotten some nasty reviews lately, and while a few of them actually had good points, just presented in a very un-friendly manner, the majority if them were plain mean, and anonymous of course. So I'm not going to disable anonymous reviews, because clearly these nasty reviewers get some kind of sick pleasure out of leaving hate-mail, and I would hate to take their one high point of their day away from them. xD So anyway, be nice or I will go off on a rant about mean reviewers next week. =) I may post a lovely rant about that in my profile soon actually, because I have strong feelings about it. Not for myself, if they want to complain about me and my writing, go ahead, I can roll with the punches just fine but there are some people who are more sensitive and that kind of thing actually hurts their feelings. It's these people I get mad for. *glares at nasty reviewers* If I could sign some kind of deal where the only reviews I get were the anonymous mean ones, I would do it as long as it meant that no one else would get mean reviews. And I'm serious. Anyway, I promised not to rant so I'm going to shut up now. xD Hope you enjoyed the chapter and next week's will be awesome! xD_


	13. Chapter 13

_Author's Note: I remembered to update! Hurray! xD Well, it's not a huge update but it's bigger than last time and actually on the right day too so. Win. =) Oh, I'm in a hurry, but I've got to mention that there is a wee bit more cursing than usual so...yeah. I don't know what you are going to do with that information, but a lot of people point that out in their author's notes so I'm going to too. Now onto something I do feel I should warn you about, in this update, and in the next few, we will be dealing with a topic that is definately very sensitive. So that's all I can really say without giving it away, so consider yourselves warned. You may not like it, but I'm here to write a story, not make everyone feel good. Although if the two happen to coincide, I'm not complaining. =) Anyway, on with the chapter!!!_

"Shouldn't we call Tseng?" Rude ventured to say, actually having to work to keep up with the other man's swift pace. They had been walking, very quickly, for the past ten minutes. Rude had at first wondered where Reno was going, but soon figured it out on his own. Reno appeared to be leading them back to Shinra headquarters. It was the last place they had seen her. _Always best to backtrack. _

"Yeah, probably," Reno answered roughly, making no move to get out his cell-phone. Rude didn't say anything else, he just pulled his own cell from his pocket and dialed Tseng's number.

"Where is she?" Tseng asked, answering Rude's call.

"That's what we're trying to find out, sir," Rude replied, calmly but with a concerned tone.

"What happened?"

"If we knew that, we wouldn't be havin' to look for her now would we?" Reno had turned sharply, apparently hearing what Tseng had said, and grabbed the phone, "She was with us last night until we got back to the Shinra building. We split up then. I should have made sure she got all the way home." Reno muttered the last part, speaking more to himself then them.

"It's not your fault, Reno," Tseng answered calmly, carefully taking note of the concern and self-blame in Reno's voice, "Focus on finding her, not whose fault it is."

"Yeah, whatever," Reno kicked a stray rock on the pavement, sending it flying, "She wasn't drunk, or nuthin'."

"Anything, Reno," Tseng corrected, "Did she have anything at all to drink at the bar?"

"Yeah, a couple mixed drinks, but only enough to make her a bit tipsy. She was fine! I wouldn't have let her go home by herself if she wasn't."

"Are you sure no one slipped anything in her drink?"

"I dunno, I wasn't watchin' that closely! No one really came near us," Reno grumbled, "It would have had to have been to the bartender."

"Heidegger is calling, I've got to go," Tseng said, "Do whatever you have to do to find her. We'll worry about authorization later."

"'K," Reno mumbled, snapping the phone closed and tossing it back to Rude who caught it perfectly. "We're goin' back to the bar." Reno changed course abruptly, as familiar with the city as with the back of his hand.

"Do you think the same bartender will be there?" Rude asked.

"He'd better be," Reno replied menacingly. Rude couldn't decide whether it would be better for the bartender to be there or not. Knowing Reno, he'd probably track the man down.

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"Yo, remember us?" Reno didn't wait for the bartender to greet them. Luckily for them, it was indeed the same bartender from the previous night. Vaulting easily over the counter, Reno wasted no time in making sure the man knew they were serious.

"Uh, yeah, red hair," the man couldn't have been much older than Reno himself, and looked extremely surprised, understandably fumbling with the glass in his hand, "What do you want?" From the nervous glance the man cast from Reno to Rude and back again, Rude guessed the bartender had figured out they were Turks. Most of the city's occupants were able to recognize them by the suits and the attitudes alone.

"The girl that was with us," Reno continued, "Did ya put anything in her drink?"

"What?" the man looked surprised, "Do you mean, like drug her? No, I didn't."

There was a tense silence, Reno staring hard at the bartender who looked extremely nervous but was still able to return Reno's stare.

"He's tellin' the truth," Reno said quietly, vaulting back over the counter and heading for the door without another glance for the bartender. Rude followed quickly, casting a final look over his shoulder at the confused and slightly frightened man.

"What now?" Rude questioned once they were outside the bar and Reno was again weaving in and out of confusing alleys and streets.

"Back to Shinra to trace her steps from there to her apartment," Reno sighed, "I doubt we'll find anything though. We didn't notice anything the first time we went."

"Well we weren't looking for anything then," Rude pointed out, hoping to make Reno feel better.

"That's the problem with bein' a Turk!" Reno shoved his hands angrily in his pockets, "It's impossible to pinpoint a suspect in a situation like this because every damned person hates us!"

"So you think someone jumped her then?" Rude asked, getting his question from the implication Reno had made.

"I hope not," Reno muttered, "But there's not much else that could have happened."

"True," Rude shrugged. They walked in silence until they reached the pavement in front of the Shinra building.

"Alright, she went this way towards her apartment," Reno started off in the direction she'd taken the night before, and the direction they'd taken earlier that day, "We're gonna assume she took the quickest route, and follow that."

They walked slowly now, carefully watching the concrete ground for any hint as to what had happened to Elena. They were almost back at her apartment when Reno bent suddenly and plucked something from the ground. It had been hidden in the shadows of a thin alley between two apartment complexes.

"Her cell-phone," Reno said, holding it up so Rude could see it. The redhead stared at it, and Rude was surprised by what he saw on Reno's face. _Is that…fear?_ He turned his attention to the phone as Reno started to flip it over and open it, examining the whole thing for any clues. Rude didn't forget the look he'd seen though, filing it away carefully like he did with so many facts most others missed.

"Did she have a gun on her?" Reno asked, pocketing Elena's cell-phone after his fruitless search.

"I don't think so."

"Well this really sucks!" Reno complained loudly. Before either of them could say another word, Reno's cell-phone began to ring.

"What?" he answered harshly.

"Found anything?" Tseng asked, ignoring Reno's impoliteness.

"Not a damned thing other than her cell, but that's got nothin' to tell us," Reno leaned against the brick wall of one of the tall buildings lining the street.

"Hmm, well I've found something," Tseng continued quickly, "I've just paid a visit to Don Corneo and while he doesn't know anything directly about Elena's disappearance, he does know something of interest that could be linked."

"Yeah?" Reno motioned for Rude to move closer so he could hear the conversation.

"Remember that drug-ring we dealt with a few months ago?"

"Yeah, they were pushing in on the Don's territory and we took 'em out," Reno replied. The gang had been a fairly large one, for not being connected to Don Corneo. As a favor for the supply of under-world information, the Turks had easily infiltrated the gang and gathered enough evidence for the normal authorities to do a legitimate bust. The drug-ring had been mostly jailed, but a few were able to get out on bail. Since then, they hadn't been up to anything other than hating the Turks with a flaming passion for bringing them down.

"Well the Don has kept an eye on them since, in case they show any signs of suspicious behavior. Apparently they've acquired a building they use as a headquarters again, but don't seem to have done much else. They still hate us though, and it's a long-shot, but worth checking out all the same. Elena must have presented a fairly easy target."

"I know," Reno's tone was a bit sarcastic and a bit miserable.

"I'm sending you the address and the blue-prints now," Tseng continued, "They may be a little dated, but the general floor plan of the building should be mostly the same. Do your best to find out what you can without starting any unnecessary fights. And I mean that, Reno. We don't have time to go stirring up old fights with these guys, not with this whole reactor situation."

"I know," Reno rolled his eyes, slumping lower against the brick wall, "We're goin' now."

"Alright, I've just sent the files, you should get them in a second."

Reno hung up, and moments later his phone made a small beep, alerting them to the arrival of the files in question.

"Let's go," Reno said curtly, glancing at the address of their destination and heading off at once without even a moment's hesitation about the right direction.

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"That's it," Reno nodded subtly toward a building on the opposite side of the street. They didn't slow their pace, and showed no signs of paying any extra attention to anything as they continued down the street and rounded the corner. Once safely out of sight, Reno and Rude stopped to consider their next step.

They were in one of the bad parts of town. It seemed as though almost all of Midgar could be considered shady areas now. Many of the buildings were crumbling at the corners, but retained their original strength almost completely. The particular building they were interested in was of a fairly small size, not drawing too much attention. The windows were boarded up, apparently to give the impression of abandonment and frailty. To the Turks however, it only made the place more suspicious because the boards used were clearly rather new.

"So how do we know if Elena's in there or not?" Rude asked in a hushed voice, "And if she is, how do we get in?"

"Yeah, and how do we find her, and how do we all get out without gettin' caught?" Reno added, "I dunno. For now let's just watch the place. We'll figure somethin' out." The Turks turned back around their corner, and walked casually up the street until they were about directly across from the building they were watching. Dropping easily out of sight into a dark alley, they stayed close to the shadowy walls and quietly kept an eye on the place while desperately racking their brains for something, anything that could help them.

The whole street turned out to have less life than an arctic wasteland. They'd sat in silence for a full thirty minutes without seeing or hearing a soul.

"This is such a freakin' waste of-" Reno was cut off as his phone buzzed from his pocket. Pulling it out, Reno flicked it open. "Tseng's got some pictures of the known gang members." He tossed the phone to Rude who scrolled down the screen, memorizing the faces of all the men shown there. A particular face stood out, and Rude squinted at it, struggling to remember where he'd seen the man before.

"Hey, look, here's something," Reno nudged Rude, distracting him from his mental search, "I swear I've seen that dude before." A lone man had slipped inconspicuously out of the building they watched, glancing casually up and down the street before sticking his hands in his pockets and ambling slowly up the road and out of sight.

"You have," Rude shoved the phone back at Reno, tapping the picture he'd been struggling to recall, "He was in the bar last night." Reno stared at the picture and his eyes went a bit wide.

"You're right," he sounded almost excited, finally making a connection in all this mess, "That's it, too much coincidence, we're goin' in." He sounded determined.

"How exactly do you plan to infiltrate a building you are completely unfamiliar with?" Rude questioned skeptically.

"I know _somethin' _about it," Reno replied defensively, messing around on his phone again, "I have blue-prints."

"Ok, but you have no idea how many people, if any, are in there, what level of organization they are, how well they armed, if they are armed at all," Rude pointed out, "They shouldn't have guns, it would be incredibly difficult and incredibly expensive for them to get a hold of because the Don hates them and they can't legally get them, but you don't know what else they've got."

"Details, details," Reno's mood actually seemed to be improving now that he was doing something instead of sitting around waiting and watching, "I'll figure it out as I go." Rude didn't reply, knowing too well Reno's love of 'winging it'. The redhead preferred _not _to plan when he could. He said it made it more exciting. Rude couldn't deny, the man was good at it too. He couldn't think of a situation when Reno hadn't been able to turn anything thrown at him to their advantage.

"There's a back door in a fairly secluded location within the building itself," Reno snapped the phone closed, having sufficiently memorized the blue-print, "Let's hope it's still there." With the ease of long practice, they slid out of the shadows, appearing back on the road as gently as if they'd always been there. Crossing the street some ways down from the building, they worked their way back up and melded again into shadows, this time in an alley right next to their suspect building.

Around back, there was a rusty metal door just as the blue-prints had promised. Quietly trying the handle, Reno wasn't surprised to find it locked. It was a common enough occurrence in their line of work. In fact, it was more suspicious for a door to be unlocked, in his point of view. Reno easily picked the lock, and slipping his EMR out of his sleeve and into his hand. He looked over his shoulder at Rude, checking if the other man was ready too. Reno didn't know why he'd brought his EMR that day, he just had. Maybe he'd known he would need it. At any rate, he had it with him and was glad of it. He always carried a pistol, of course, but hand-to-hand combat was more his style. He liked it better. That way he was relying only on himself, not on some piece of machinery. Although he didn't have any reason to not trust that a gun would work properly, he'd never had an instance where it didn't. Still, the only thing he'd always had there to rely on was himself, so he felt most comfortable when he didn't have to worry about something else not pulling through.

Nodding to Rude as a signal, Reno pushed the door open and they both slipped in, closing the door behind them as swiftly as possible. Giving the area a quick glance over for cameras, they both relaxed a bit when they saw none in the narrow hallway they found themselves in. The place was lit by flickering yellow fluorescents, giving the hall an aged feel. The paint on the walls was faded from what was once a mint green to a grayish hue. The floor was a cheap white tile, chipped and dirty for the most part.

"Nice place," muttered Reno, taking a moment to adjust to his surroundings.

"What now?" Rude questioned, uneasy because of their lack of plan. Rude was the type who preferred to know what was going to happen and when it was going to happen. There was always something unexpected thrown in the mix, but he could handle that easily enough as long as there was some kind of basic plan to go on. It made him uneasy working as Reno did, with no real idea of what to do, with just a vague goal in mind and no set plan for how to accomplish that goal. One day he might chose to begin by seeking out and killing off everyone in the place, another day he may chose for absolutely no one to see him, leaving a building as if he'd never been there. Rude had no idea where Reno drew his 'plans' from, but they hadn't failed yet so he was willing to trust this time would go well too. It didn't make it any easier to hear Reno's answer to his question however.

"I dunno," Reno said lightly, "I guess we should look around."

_Could you be more vague? _Rude rolled his eyes, but followed the redhead as they crept quietly down the hall.

"There are only two floors," Reno mentioned, "This and a basement."

"Basements are always the places you want to check out," Rude stated. They spoke in hushed tones, making just enough noise for each other to hear.

"Yeah, and the stairs are at the end of this hall." They continued making their way down the hall, swiftly but silently, keeping an ever watchful eye out for cameras or any other detection devices. They hadn't seen or heard any sign of actual persons about the building. They were almost to the door labeled as the stairwell when an echoing of footsteps reached their ears from the very door in question. Looking around, Reno pointed to a door near the stairs marked 'closet'. They both slipped in without a sound, waiting until the people on the stairs passed. They could hear voices now, and both Turks listened intently to the muffled conversation, hoping to draw some kind of helpful information from it.

"Where did the boss go anyway?" one man said.

"To deliver the ransom note," another voice responded, "Well, it would be a ransom note if we intended to give her back!" The man had a distinctly cruel laugh. "So I guess this is more of a notice or a threat type thing."

"Ha, good point," the first man replied, "If I was them, I wouldn't want her back anyway. Not much good she'd be now, fucked up as she is. Literally!" The cruel laughter could be heard again, now shared by both men.

"We'll teach those damned Turks to screw with us!" The voices disappeared again, this time fading out in the opposite direction. They waited, still without a sound, until it had been silent for some time before they ventured out of their hiding place. Reno didn't say a word, but Rude noticed that the semi-entertained mood he'd had before had completely vanished, replaced by his original worried mood. The redhead seemed almost frantic as they went down the single flight of stairs. Rude found it almost impossible to keep up and be quiet at the same time. Reno had never had any trouble practically flying over any terrain without making a sound. Then again, Reno was built much lighter so it made sense. Still, Rude found it annoying at times when Reno moved so fast. He wasn't bothered this time, because he too was deeply concerned about Elena now.

It was fairly clear that these people did have her in their hands, and by the sound of it, she was not doing well.

"Reno," Rude whispered, trying to get the man's attention. "Reno," he whispered again, louder this time, although his first attempt had been sufficient for the redhead to hear. Still, he got no answer. Reno kept walking, swiftly weaving through the complicated halls of the basement of this old building. "Reno!" Rude practically snapped, reaching out to grab the man's arm.

"What?" Reno hissed, stopping briefly to whirl around.

"Slow down," Rude had to grab Reno's sleeve again to keep him from running off again, "It's too dangerous to move that quickly in unfamiliar territory. You know that."

"Did you hear them?" Reno demanded a bit loudly, at least not trying to run off anymore, "We've got to find her, and we've got to find her now, so let's move!" Without waiting to hear Rude's response, Reno turned and kept going, forcing Rude to follow at his swift pace.

At the very next corner, Reno pulled up sharply, almost making Rude run into him. Signaling him to be quiet, Reno pointed around the corner. About four men stood grouped together near a door. They were quiet, and looked a little bored.

"None of the other doors are guarded," Reno mouthed.

"That's got to be it," Rude nodded, "Let's give ourselves a window of time." While he spoke, Rude pulled a small device out of his pocket. "I planted a small explosive near the door we came in. Remote-activated. It will distract them long enough for us to grab her."

Reno nodded his approval while Rude punched in a brief code in the remote. Seconds later a loud blast was heard, accompanied by a deep, rumbling, shake of the building.

"Certainly distracting," Reno commented, as they cautiously observed the previously bored-looking men jump up and look around curiously.

"It was upstairs!" one shouted, leading all the others in a hasty rush down the hall, luckily in the opposite direction of the Turks. When the coast had been clear for several agonizing seconds, both Turks leapt forward, running for the door that had been guarded.

"What ever happened to never abandon your post?" Reno said.

"I don't know, but it's helpful," Rude answered, "Hurry up, we don't know how long they'll stay away."

"I know, I know," Reno's fingers flew about quickly, picking the lock on the door and shoving it open. Rude rushed into the room quickly after Reno, having to stop short to avoid running into the man who'd completely frozen as soon as he entered.

The room was fairly small, looking much like the rest of the building with faded walls and chipped tile. It was completely empty except for a lone figure laying still on the floor, turned away from the Turks. Various articles of clothing, all presumably hers, were haphazardly strewn about the area as if they'd been tossed there. A ratty blanket was thrown over her, covering most of her form but revealing severely bruised thighs. Her bare shoulders and arms were visible too, blue and even black in places like her legs.

"Elena," the single word escaped Reno's lips, phrased like a question almost, but overwhelmed with emotions that all battled for precedence. Rude, shocked too by the evidence of far worse treatment than they'd thought, gathered his wits about him quicker than the redhead and advanced, intent on getting the poor girl out of there as quickly as they could.

At Reno's voice, Elena had turned in their direction, her tear-stained face showing fear and misery. She focused her swimming brown eyes on Rude first, since he was closest. She had an evil looking bruise high up on her cheekbone, near one of her eyes. A single tear trailed sadly down her cheek. She didn't say anything, but curled up tightly, clutching the pathetic blanket, and began to sob.

Rude hovered near the girl, unsure of what to do. He knew he had to do something fast, because as soon as the shock of the explosion passed, her captors would know something was up and return full-force.

"Fuck," Reno's eyes were dark, darker than Rude had ever seen them, as he stared expressionlessly at the crying girl curled up on the ground. Emotion started to pass over the redhead's face, a single one quickly taking dominance. Anger. Seething, fiery, bloodthirsty, anger. He wasn't looking at Elena anymore, his gaze was on the ground as he started to restlessly pace.

"Reno! Focus!" Rude yelled, starting to get worried. He wasn't going to be able to get Elena out of there without Reno's help. The redhead turned blazing eyes on him. Reno tapped his EMR against his leg at a frenzied rate.

"I am focused," Reno's words were quiet, but spelled certain death for anyone who got in his way now. He turned and walked out the door, just as the shouts and pounding feet of the building's other inhabitants reached their ears.

"Dammit," Rude muttered. The gang was coming back, in a much larger force by the sound of it, Reno was livid and not helping, and Elena was a complete physical and emotional wreck. Rude didn't blame her, the girl had obviously been maltreated and violated in every way. Desperately trying to be like Reno and come up with the best possible plan in seconds, Rude knelt by Elena, glancing urgently between her and the open door where he could see Reno, standing still in the hall and flicking on his EMR. Rude saw and heard the sparks of electricity dancing along the weapon, and he knew the thing was on full power. Reno wasn't messing around. He meant to kill.

The shouts grew in volume until they skyrocketed when the gang rounded the corner and caught sight of the lone Turk. Various cries against the Turks rang out, and Rude saw Reno dash out of sight, directly towards the enemies.

"Please, please don't get yourself killed," Rude muttered, making a snap decision and scooping the sobbing girl up, wrapped tightly in the old blanket.

Reno's blood boiled. He was literally seeing red and wasn't even sure of what Rude had just said to him, and what he had replied. His fist held so tightly around his EMR he was afraid it might snap. His fingers clenched and unclenched, longing to be around somebody's throat. He wasn't sure what he was doing when he walked out of the room, all he knew was that they had to die. All of them.

The group of about twenty men rounded the corner, pausing for only a second in surprise at seeing the single Turk faced off against them. They quickly recovered however and began yelling obscenities and brandishing whatever weapons they had. Rude had been right, they had no guns, but that didn't matter now anyway. They didn't stand a chance with or without them.

Reno hadn't been this angry in a long time, possibly never. He could hear the blood rushing in his ears and, while he didn't make a sound, he could have sworn he was screaming. Pure and unadulterated hatred ran through his veins. The bodies hit the floor faster than he could register hitting them. If anyone landed a blow, he didn't feel the pain. He couldn't get that damned image out of his head: Elena laying raped, abused, and defenseless on a cold and dirty floor. The only thing that made him feel better was revenge: feeling the force of his swift blows as they came down on the men swarmed around him, hearing the vicious crackle of electricity as it fried the flesh of those responsible for that bruised body, the miserable brown eyes.

Reno was fast, and now he was moving faster than he'd ever known he could. He wasn't thinking about right. All he could think about was what they had done and what he was doing to them because of it. He only stopped when none were left standing. The whole thing had lasted but a minute.

Rude stared at his co-worker with wide eyes. He'd known Reno was good, but he'd never seen anything like that from anyone in the years he'd been working with Shinra, who employed nothing but the best of the best. The redhead stood still now in the center of a ring of bodies, breathing heavily more from anger than exertion. One of the fried gang members groaned and twitched slightly. Reno pulled his pistol from his pocket with hardly more than a flick from his wrist and shot the man between the eyes without a hesitation.

"Let's go," Reno whispered, his voice hoarse. He glanced at the girl in Rude's arms, and looked away quickly. He couldn't bear the sight. Rude just nodded, silently following Reno as he led them out of the basement of the now lifeless building. The only sound was Elena's muffled sobbing.

_Author's Note: See? Sad, awful stuff. =( I feel like a bad person now, but it had to be done!!! I couldn't help it!! Anyway, I realize this can be a touchy topic and I'm sorry if for any reason I offended anyone. I hope that doesn't make anybody hate me. =( If you have a problem, feel free to message me and we can talk about it. So yes. Otherwise...liked the chapter? Review and tell me what you thought!! =) Thanks! YOU GUYS ROCK! _


	14. Chapter 14

_Author's Note: Update time! And I remembered it was Friday this time! Author win! xD Sorry I haven't been replying to your reviews guys, but my life has been absolutely crazy lately!!! I promise you I read them and it brightens my day every time to see one. =) So thank you! For reading and reviewing! You guys rock. But anyway, last chapter was a little rough and so is this one. =( I feel so mean for doing that to Elena, but it just had to happen! Whatever. Anyway, this story is almost as long as my longest one so far and there's still a good bit more so...awesome. I hope you all are enjoying it! It's late so I'm going to keep this short. =) Read away. _

It was strange. Elena had hardly cried the entire time she'd been held captive, but now that she wasn't anymore, she couldn't seem to stop. _It's ok, you're safe now. Reno and Rude are here. You're safe now. _No matter how many times she told herself that, Elena couldn't stop the tears. Maybe it was because the memories played over and over in her head like a movie, only much more real. Horrifically real. No, she was safe now but that wasn't something you could get up and walk away from. Heck, she was being carried. Elena shuddered, remembering some of the more terrible moments. She'd never been handled so roughly, thrown about and used like some worthless piece of junk. It didn't seem that they had let her be, even for a minute. From the moment they got their hands on her, Elena had been beaten around, violently raped, and misused in every possible way. And it had never stopped. Anytime one man left her alone, another always showed up to have his 'fun'.

Elena had no idea how long she'd been there. It seemed to be daylight now. They walked through mostly empty streets in silence, the gray-hued daylight of Midgar reaching them between the tall buildings. She knew it had been night when the gang had attacked her, but whether it had been a day or a week she had no idea. What did it matter? What had happened, happened. No difference was made by the amount of time it had happened in. She tried unsuccessfully to put behind her the experiences of her captivity by focusing on what was happening around her.

"We're gettin' a damn car," muttered Reno fiercely, "Too many people are lookin'." Elena turned her head to look at him. The redhead wasn't looking at her, and punched a number into his phone angrily. She had never seen him look so tense and upset. The ever-present feeling of misery stuck with her, and unwanted images flashed through her mind in the background, but Elena's immediate attention was for the time diverted by Reno's disturbed mood.

"Reno," she said, but it came out more of a hoarse and quivering whisper. She saw him tense at the call, but he made no other sign of hearing her, holding his cell-phone to his ear and looking the other way. Rude noticed her speak and looked down at her, but Elena wasn't concerned with him right now. "Reno," she called again, reaching out shakily and brushing his jacket sleeve with her fingertips.

"What?" he said tiredly, turning when she touched him, an indefinable expression on his face. A dangerous fire burned deep within his aquamarine eyes, but there was such a feel of sadness about his face that Elena felt she had to comfort him.

"It's ok," she didn't know what she was talking about, but he looked like he needed to hear it. She certainly wasn't feeling ok, far from it, but that wasn't going to make Reno less upset.

"Hey, Tseng," Reno said, looking at Elena but talking into the phone, "We need a car over here." He kept his gaze fixed on Elena, whose fingers still rested lightly on his arm. She stared back, lingering tears still rolling down her cheeks. She was too exhausted to cry anymore. She was glad she didn't have to walk, or stand even.

"Thank you, Rude," she let her arm fall limply at her side again, too tired to hold it up any longer. She hurt all over, the dull, aching pain that comes after a good beating. She wanted it all to just go away, the throbbing, the aching. She didn't even want to be in her mind right now. There was too much there that haunted her.

As the three of them waited as inconspicuously as possible for the car that Tseng would send, and Reno continued his phone conversation with Tseng, Elena let her arm dangle loosely as she was supported entirely by Rude. Letting her eyes close, she couldn't tell if she was fainting or falling asleep, but she didn't care. It was blissful unawareness. As she drifted off, she thought she could feel a touch: long fingers, delicate and strong, laced gently with her own.

* * *

Rude pretended not to notice when Reno stealthily held the sleeping girl's hand. He didn't bother to hide the smirk though. Rude wasn't dumb, and picked up on a lot of things most people missed. Sometimes he picked up on things before the persons involved even picked up on it. He was still worried about Elena though. They'd gotten her away from that hell-hole, and she seemed to be mostly ok, but they only had a basic knowledge of what had happened to her. Who knew to what extent those bastards had abused her?

"I..I can't explain now," Reno was trying to evade Tseng's questions for the time being, "Just send a car and we'll tell you later." Rude wasn't sure why Reno didn't tell the man what had happened. Maybe the redhead was still too worked up to talk about it.

"Why?" Reno questioned, having gotten rid of Tseng and slipping the phone back into his pocket. Rude doubted Reno was really going for an answer, or if he knew he'd said it aloud at all, but the bald man answered anyway.

"Because they hate Shinra and, more specifically, the Turks."

"Yeah, but why her?" Reno stared at the drab concrete ground, "She wasn't even with the Turks when we busted them up."

"Hate crimes have no rhyme or reason," Rude shrugged as best he could without jostling Elena.

"I'll show them a hate crime," Reno muttered darkly through clenched teeth.

"You already killed them all," Rude pointed out, recalling the astounding feat with the same surprised admiration he'd felt at the time.

"Not all," Reno looked up, and Rude could see the angry blaze was back in his eyes, "There was one that was gone, remember? They spoke about him on the stairs. The one from the bar."

Rude did remember the man. He also remembered something else he'd been meaning to ask about.

"Are you ok?" Rude asked Reno.

"What?"

"Are you ok?" he repeated, "You took on like twenty guys back there. Did you get hit at all?"

Reno looked a little bit surprised, as if he'd never considered this before. Glancing about himself briefly, he shrugged.

"Guess not."

"Mako," Rude nodded, having just figured it out.

"What are you talking about?" Reno started to look annoyed. He always did when people talked about mako.

"Normal people don't move that fast," Rude continued, ignoring the annoyance. The redhead would get over it. "They don't take on a gang single-handedly and come out without a scratch either. I don't know how it did it, but it's got to be the explanation."

"Whatever, man," Reno muttered, shaking his head and dropping the subject. Rude let it go, having the good sense not to continue speaking about it. He noticed that Reno still held Elena's hand, and he smiled. _If only Tseng could see this._

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Before long, the promised car and driver showed up, asking no questions like a good little Shinra hireling. The ride back was silent, Elena still in a state of unawareness and no one else caring to speak. Rude had sort of propped the girl up in between himself and Reno in the backseat of the vehicle. Awkwardly, he took great care to be sure the blanket covered her properly. Reno stiffened almost imperceptibly when Elena's head fell against his shoulder, but he made no other sign of having noticed and remained completely motionless while he stared moodily out the car window. Luckily, their driver was considerably more careful than Reno as a driver, so Elena wasn't disturbed much in her already uneasy sleep.

Tseng was waiting impatiently for them when the driver stopped the car near the elevator in the parking garage.

"I know ya said no fightin'," Reno said blandly when he stepped out of the car, "But I didn't listen."

"Well, an injury or two is fine," Tseng commented, glancing Reno up and down and assuming the fight was a small one since Reno seemed completely unharmed, "I just didn't want to stir up old feuds. Not with this Mako reactor business going on."

"They won't be starting up much of anything…" Reno mumbled, turning back to the car where Rude was carefully pulling Elena out. Before Tseng could question Reno about this last statement, Rude straightened up, holding Elena once more.

"He killed twenty guys," Rude said, his straightforwardness coming in handy. Tseng's jaw dropped.

"What part of 'don't start any fights' don't you understand?" Tseng started to yell, not even getting a glance of Elena before getting upset.

"Hey! It was deserved!" Reno shouted back, his voice going from the quiet, even sentences of before to angry yelling in an instant, "Look at her!" He stepped aside, getting out of the way of Tseng's line of sight, and pointed sharply at the girl, laying limply in Rude's arms, still asleep despite the yelling although there was a small frown on her face now along with the general miserable expression.

Tseng was clearly not expecting what he saw, and he was unable to say anything at first. The three stood there in silence: the one staring speechless, another glaring angrily at anything and everything, and the last calmly holding the bruised and exhausted girl.

"Tell me what happened," Tseng demanded finally, turning and leading the way to the elevator. They needed to take Elena to the infirmary in case she had any more serious injuries. Rude glanced at Reno. The redhead was slouched against the corner of the elevator, arms crossed, fists clenched, and staring angrily at the floor. When it became clear that Reno wasn't going to say anything, Rude went ahead.

"They attacked her on her way home last night, after we parted ways," Rude carefully carried the girl into the elevator and Tseng pushed the appropriate button, "They must have taken her back to their place and…well, we don't know exactly what happened, but it's pretty obvious." He spoke quietly, not wanting to wake her, and also because it somehow seemed less terrible if he said it quieter. Tseng sighed.

"You killed them all?" he asked Reno softly.

"All but one," the redhead answered at once, pulling his gaze away from the floor to look at Tseng, "One was missing." That reminded Rude.

"Actually we think the one that was in charge was delivering some kind of threat," Rude added, "Has anyone suspicious been spotted around here?"

"Not that I know of," Tseng pulled his cell-phone out of his pocket, "But I'll alert the security office for the building." A quick text-message later, and it was taken care of.

"How bad do you think it was?" Tseng questioned, solemnly looking at Elena.

"Bad enough to make Reno run off and take on a gang without even mentioning it to me," Rude commented pointedly, trying to lure Reno into conversation. Reno had a tendency to get moody and Rude tried to keep the redhead talking whenever that happened so he wouldn't get too depressed. The redhead either didn't hear him though, or was ignoring him.

"Well, let's be realistic," Tseng answered, "It doesn't take much to get Reno in a fight."

Rude didn't answer, but gave Tseng a look. He knew Reno was quick-tempered, but that's not what interested him about this. Rude thought the mako was responsible for the almost inhuman speed Reno had moved with earlier, and the fact that he had been able to walk away from that fight without so much as a scratch, but he had no idea why it would have kicked in then and never before if that was the case.. He didn't want to mention it again in front of Reno though.

Tseng looked back at him quizzically, trying to figure out what Rude was attempting to convey.

"Yo, you can talk about me while I'm here, ya know," Reno mentioned, a falsely casual tone in his voice. Rude could tell he was mad. "You're just gonna 'discuss' me later anyway so I might as well spare ya the trouble."

"We don't 'discuss' you," Tseng rolled his eyes, turning from Rude only to be met with an even and angry stare from the redhead.

"I'm not deaf or blind," Reno said. Neither of the others ever got a chance to respond, as the elevator doors slid open on the infirmary floor at that moment. Luckily, this saved Tseng and Rude from a very awkward conversation. They did on occasion have conversations that revolved entirely around Reno, but there was always a good reason.

* * *

They had already explained what they knew, and Rude was straightening up after setting Elena down carefully in a hospital bed, when she woke with a start.

"Wait!" she grabbed Rude's arm, looking around fearfully, "Where am I?"

"You're in the infirmary, back at Shinra headquarters," Rude answered, standing there awkwardly. He realized she was scared but had no experience in comforting people.

"Where are…they?" she brought her quavering voice down to a whisper.

"They're dead," Reno stepped over, his face showing as little emotion as if he too was dead.

"Elena, you're safe now. No one is going to hurt you here," Tseng reassured her after finishing speaking with the nurse in charge of the room and coming over, "We've got to step out now, but we'll be close by."

"Ok," Elena nodded, looking a little lost and still miserable and frightened. Tseng led the other two out of the room, where they waited in the hall. Rude proceeded to tell their story again to Tseng, in greater detail this time. Reno paced angrily, fingers fidgeting restlessly.

"So they're taken care of then?" Tseng questioned, double-checking that they would no longer have problems with this particular gang.

"One is still out there," Reno interjected, pausing in front of the two other Turks, "But I'll get him."

"Let it go," Tseng ordered, "We have too much to do and it's just one guy who will be sure to keep out of sight when he finds all his dead companions." There was a long, tense silence in which Tseng and Reno stared at each other.

"Ok," Reno said finally, allowing himself to fall roughly into a chair. Rude could tell he was lying, but didn't press the issue. He'd talk to Reno about it later.

* * *

Elena stared blankly at the wall. The few nurses tending to her had given her a hospital gown in exchange for the torn up blanket she'd had. They'd announced her physically ok except for several bad bruises and minor cuts. Nothing that wouldn't heal easily enough. They had her on some mild sedatives, with stronger ones available in case she should require them. Right now they were off to report to Tseng and their own department head, but one nurse was left in the room, presumably because they didn't want to leave her alone.

She didn't really feel anything emotionally, maybe because of the sedatives or maybe because her mind had just quit feeling things to spare her the emotional pain. She lay on her side, curled up and staring at the cream-colored wall.

"Does she have family and friends that we should notify?" The nurse was speaking now, probably to Tseng.

"No family," Tseng replied, speaking quietly as the nurse had, "I don't know about friends. Reno, you stay with her for now. I'll have Rude do the paperwork." Reno glanced critically at Rude, who looked away, appearing to feel a bit awkward or ashamed. The redhead didn't say anything though, sitting roughly in a chair near Elena's bed and glaring down at the ground with crossed arms.

* * *

"He knows we're talking about him," Rude pointed out, following Tseng to a mostly deserted corner of that floor.

"I know, but I don't care," Tseng answered, "He's just going to have to get over it. Now what was it you wanted to tell me?" The man was referring to the look Rude had given him in the elevator.

"Well, when we found her it was pretty clear what had happened," Rude scratched his head, struggling with how to tell his story, "It was pretty awful and I guess it made Reno really angry. I wasn't paying attention to him at first, but I noticed soon enough that he wasn't doing anything but standing there. We heard the men coming back, and Reno just turned and left the room. I tried calling him back to help me get her out of there, but he didn't pay any attention. Reno killed all twenty of them, Tseng. And I've never seen anyone move that fast," Rude lowered his voice as if someone would overhear them, "The guy's fast normally, but this…this was insane. And you saw him now. He doesn't have a scratch. Normal people don't move that fast, and don't take on a gang and come out without a single injury."

"And what's your point?" Tseng clearly already saw where Rude was going with it, but he asked anyway.

"I think it was the mako," replied Rude, "It does weird stuff, and you know as well as I do that his dosage is much higher than anyone else's."

"You could be right," Tseng mused, "But there's no way to be sure. Still, it's good to know. Keep an eye on him." Rude nodded.

* * *

"Are you ok?" Elena questioned. She'd been watching Reno. As soon as the others had left, he'd slumped, his previously dead face now showing emotion. He looked distraught, to capture it in one word.

"Why are you asking _me_ that?" Reno cleverly evaded her question, looking a little surprised to hear her say something.

"Are you ok?" she repeated, not fooled by his evasion.

"I thought you were still asleep," he said, not looking her in the eye.

"Answer me," Elena didn't raise her voice at all, but waited patiently, somehow knowing he would.

"I should have taken you home," he finally muttered, allowing a bit of the guilt he felt to show in his voice.

"It's not your fault," Elena replied quickly. Reno didn't answer, which she took as a sign that he disagreed. "Who were they?" Another topic caught her interest.

"Some gang that we annoyed before. They took the opportunity to get back at the Turks. I'm sorry you got dragged into it. I can't believe I let that happen," Reno was surprisingly talkative, but Elena didn't mind.

"Look at me," Elena demanded. She wasn't expecting Reno to listen, but it didn't phase her at all when he did, looking her straight in the eye with anger and guilt filling his aqua eyes. "Stop blaming yourself." Her moment of strength passed and she turned away so he wouldn't see the tears that began to roll down her face again.

_Author's Note: So yes...you like? Feel free to review! Everytime you don't review, a cookie dies. o_O *gasp* SAVE THE COOKIES AND REVIEW! I'm weird, I know. It also happens to be late at night and I've also happened to have been up all day working really hard, and it just so happens that I also had a ton of sugar. =) THANKS FOR READING!!! WOOOOOOOOT! _


	15. Chapter 15

_Author's Note: HELLO! I am posting an update. Stating the Obvious Award goes to....MEEEEE!!! Hurray! *confetti* Alright, now that that's over. =P I tried my best to write as much as I could this week so I'd have some built up for next time, (there's a very good reason for that, hang on a second and I'll get to it) but as luck would have it I barely wrote enough for this weeks update. =P Luckily, there is still time!!! See next week I'm actually having a surgery. =( A minor one, nothing horrible, so don't worry. =) I'll be in and out of the hospital in one day, but I'll be on meds and stuff for awhile and I'm not sure how I'll be feeling, so I was trying to get as much of next week's update done before the surgery as I can....I don't know how that's going to work out...I will post SOMETHING next Friday, whether it's 1000 words or 10,000 words. =P SOMETHING. I'll shut up and let you get on with the reading now. =P _

"Hey, stay with her," Reno pulled himself out of the chair the moment Rude and Tseng stepped in the room again.

"Where are you going?" Tseng asked the redhead who was already out the door and heading down the hall.

"To calm down," Reno answered, surprisingly truthfully. He kept walking, soon out of sight. Tseng turned to Rude, looking a little hesitant.

"Let him go get a grip," Rude said quietly, "We can call him if we need him." Tseng nodded, realizing the intelligence in letting him go.

"How are you, Elena?" Tseng asked the girl gently, switching his focus from Reno to her. She sighed, tears making her voice a little shaky.

"Ill," she groaned, curling up tighter with her back turned to them. Tseng frowned a little, staring at her with concern.

"At least she's talking," Rude pointed out optimistically. A nurse entered the room at that point, ending the awkward semi-conversation they were having with Elena.

"How is she?" Tseng questioned the woman in a whisper, the two Turks gathering around the nurse out of ear-shot of Elena.

"Well she's a very strong young woman," the nurse began, "And physically she hasn't suffered much else than some bad bruises and a few scrapes. Mentally though….the poor dear _was _raped, repeatedly and violently it seems. She's quite upset, understandably so, but she hasn't reached a point we'd label as unstable. We're going to keep her here for awhile however, just in case."

"Will she be ok though?" Tseng continued questioning the woman.

"I don't want to promise anything, but I think she will be. I suggest someone she knows stay with her all the time, and maybe try not to touch her," the nurse glanced over at Elena's huddled form, pity on her features. The older woman had a very mothering air about her. "Poor darling. There are just no proper gentlemen left in the world." The woman sighed, shaking her head, before adding, "Excepting yourselves." There was a pause as she cast a glance up at the two Turks before her, "Maybe."

Tseng and Rude were a little surprised, not sure if they should take it as an insult or not. When the nurse left the room a few minutes later, Tseng hurried to open the door for her.

"Suck up," Rude accused casually, once the door was safely shut behind the older woman. Tseng just smiled, taking a seat in the room near Rude so they could talk without disturbing Elena. She was supposed to be resting, and they assumed she was, though she just lay there staring at the wall.

* * *

Reno sighed heavily, collapsing in his desk chair. He felt like he hadn't been there in ages, yet it had only been since this morning. _Was it really just since morning?_ It was dark out now, and he glanced at the clock. It was past the time they normally all left by several hours, but he wasn't going to leave. _Not right now anyway._ He poked around his desk until he found a cigarette. Fumbling to light it, he leaned back in the chair, kicking his feet up on the desk as usual.

"I need a drink," Reno muttered out loud. But he didn't want to go to a bar now. He was still mad, he could feel it lingering deep down. If he went much of anywhere his already quick temper would just get him in a world of trouble, and he didn't feel like dealing with that. Plus there was this business about his burst of rage earlier….Reno frowned. He remembered it a little vaguely, almost like it had been a dream. But he knew it had happened, Rude had seen it. _Mako…_Reno wondered if the substance really was responsible for his outburst. Rude seemed to think so and had probably told Tseng by now, and Tseng would probably think so too. It was possible. Strange things had happened to him before, presumably because of the mako.

"Freakin' scientists, screwing with shit they don't understand," he mumbled bitterly. The cigarette smoke curled lazily upwards towards the ceiling. He wasn't supposed to smoke in the building, but he'd never paid much attention to rules. He needed to go somewhere, do something, get rid of the residual anger he felt. At the same time Reno didn't want to leave his office. He kept thinking about his fight earlier. _Rude says there were twenty of them…I don't think I even have a bruise._ Reno had complete confidence in his combat skills but that would have been a stretch for him on his best day at most. He didn't want to leave because he was afraid it would happen again.

Reno had always been afraid of hurting people he cared for. True he didn't care for many people, but when he did care for someone, he always seemed to end up hurting them. _Or letting them get hurt._ He sighed and leaned his head on his hand. _I'm sorry, Elena._ He knew she didn't blame him, and that made it a little better, but he couldn't help but still feel responsible for what had happened. _Damned bastards._

An idea hitting him, Reno put out his cigarette and hopped out of his chair, quickly checking his gun for ammo and leaving his office. Glancing around carefully in the hall, he picked the lock on Rude's office and slipped in. Tseng knew Reno well enough to not let him keep explosives on hand. Rude however… well Rude specialized in explosives and he was always guaranteed to have something laying around.

"Bingo," Reno whispered, opening a drawer.

* * *

"You can go home if you want," Tseng offered, after checking his watch, "It's getting late."

"I'm not tired," Rude lied. He didn't want to leave until Elena was more emotionally controlled. She'd been mostly quiet the few hours they'd been there, but every now and then you could hear her sobbing softly.

"Do you think we should call Reno?" Tseng asked. He felt almost like a father to the redhead at times, even though there wasn't too much of an age difference. _I guess maturity level has a lot to do with it. _He smirked.

"He'll come back when he's ready," Rude answered calmly.

"How do you know that?" Tseng persisted. Rude just shrugged, but held to his position.

"You worry about him a lot," Elena observed quietly. Her interjection surprised them both. Neither had realized she was paying attention.

"Not really," Tseng protested, but Rude's nod begged to differ.

"That's like the seventh time you've wanted to go find him, or call him, or something," she continued. Tseng frowned, thinking back over the evening.

"I guess you're right."

Elena nodded.

"I feel a bit responsible for him," Tseng went on, apparently deciding it was a good thing to capture her attention. "I did sort of pick him up off the street."

"When Reno tells that story, it involves him disarming you," Elena's eyes looked tired, but they were focused on Tseng instead of staring blankly at the wall.

"I remember that," Tseng laughed, "Yes, he did get a gun out of my hand, but I had at least two others on me which I could have pulled and shot him with easily. But I didn't. I don't go around shooting young people just for attempting to pick my pockets."

"In Reno's version he didn't just attempt, he actually stole your wallet," Elena didn't let any details slide.

"Ok, so maybe that's true too. What else did Reno's story entail?" Tseng looked a tiny bit annoyed, but more amused than anything.

"He said you offered him a job."

"That I did," Tseng looked thoughtful, "To this day I'm not sure what inspired me to offer this random punk kid a job as a Shinra Turk, but I'm glad I did. If somebody hadn't gotten him out of that hell-hole of a life he lived, Reno would have been long dead by now. He was already pretty screwed up when we got a hold of him. We've worked on him since though and he's left most of that behind him. He's still…" Tseng trailed off, searching for a word to describe the redhead.

"Reno?" Rude supplied.

"Yes," Tseng smiled, "He's still Reno." Elena appeared fascinated with this story, paying rapt attention the whole time.

"Well it's a good thing he stole your wallet then," she said gravely, although a tiny smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.

"I guess it is," Tseng smiled. The girl yawned and her eyes drifted shut. Hoping she'd get some sleep finally, Tseng and Rude made sure to keep as quiet as they could.

Before long, Tseng noticed Rude had fallen asleep too, his head leaning against the wall. Tseng smiled a little, looking back and forth between his two sleeping Turks. He only wished he knew where the third was…

* * *

"Hey," Reno whispered, shaking Rude's shoulder. Rude woke up, confusedly looking around his unfamiliar surroundings. Daylight showed in the small window of the hospital room.

"What?" he responded, in a whisper as well, remembering the previous night. _I must have fallen asleep. In a chair. _Elena was still sleeping it seemed, so Rude tried to be as quiet as possible and it seemed Reno was too. Tseng was no where to be seen.

"She ok?" Reno nodded his head toward the girl. He looked physically tired, but his eyes sparkled again although there still was a hint of sadness present.

"Yeah, the nurse says she should be fine. We're to make sure someone she knows is here all the time and we're not supposed to touch her," Rude relayed what he deemed the most important of the conversation they'd had with the nurse.

"Don't touch her?" Reno frowned, "Well I guess that makes sense. If I were her, I wouldn't want people touchin' me either."

"Where were you?" Rude asked, standing up and stretching after having spent a night in a chair. Reno didn't get a chance to answer before Tseng came in, balancing three cups of coffee in one hand.

"Good morning," he grinned, offering them both coffee which they gratefully accepted, "Sleep comfortably?"

Rude made a face and Reno shook his head.

"I didn't sleep," the redhead said simply.

"I guessed as much," Tseng answered, not appearing surprised in the least, "Especially once I heard about a certain building in a certain sector getting mysteriously blown to smithereens last night." Tseng gave Reno a stern look. "You wouldn't know anything about that would you?"

"Hey, the bastards deserved it," Reno grinned, taking a gulp of the hot coffee, "But that reminds me-"

"Don't go changing the subject!" Tseng interrupted.

"Hold on, hold on," Reno sat himself down in one of the chairs, clearly not very concerned that he'd blown up a building, "We got so busy with all this crap that I forgot to tell ya what we heard at the bar." Tseng looked interested now, and Rude was surprised and a little embarrassed that he'd forgotten as well.

"Well?" Tseng prompted after Reno spent a bit too long savoring a sip of coffee.

"Don't rush me," he cast the man an evil look, "We heard some dumbass who had had too many drinks warnin' his friends to keep outta Sector 3. He warned 'em not to go anywhere near the reactor specifically. No timeframe implied, could be in the next five minutes, could be in the next five years. Would've followed him but the idiot was gonna be there a long time, and chances are he wasn't goin' anywhere interestin' later because he was already wasted." Reno smiled up at his boss, having successfully anticipated all the man's questions.

"And what do you propose we do about that?" Tseng asked, still managing to come up with a question.

"Wait for it to blow and then get pissed about it," Reno smirked. Tseng didn't look amused.

"And that's why I'm in charge and you're not," Tseng sat down in a chair himself, and mulled the situation over a moment. "Let's have them increase their security for the time being, especially overnight. Hmm, Elena being in this condition does complicate things, but we'll manage. Ok, I'll stay in my office and handle all the paperwork and other office-related tasks, you two switch off staying here with Elena and keeping an eye on the Sector 3 reactor. Don't either of you dare get blown up now." Tseng made it sound like a threat, glancing at them sternly. "I'd sooner loose the reactor than one of you." Tseng got up from his chair, having gotten it all straightened out, "Alright, Reno you stay here today and Rude will stay at the reactor. Then tonight you switch and so on. You can sleep while you're here, just don't leave her alone for long. I'll be in my office if you need me. Any questions?" Tseng's voice was brisk, as it always was when he was feeling productive.

"What?" Reno looked up at him as if just now hearing Tseng speak. Tseng's jaw dropped for a second, but then he rolled his eyes and walked off.

"You heard me, Reno."

"I'm off to Sector 3 then," Rude said quietly, still trying not to disturb Elena even though the others had forgotten, "You can call me if you need me." Rude left the room, closing the door gently behind him.

"See ya," Reno waved absently, shifting on the chair.

"Uncomfortable, aren't they?" Elena commented, her brown eyes watching Reno steadily.

"Well look who finally woke up," Reno answered, grinning brightly, "It's about time. Some of us have been up for…" the redhead glanced at his phone, "About twenty-four hours now."

Elena looked surprised, but the hint of a smile flickered over her face.

"Why didn't you go to sleep?" she questioned, yawning.

"I had stuff to do," Reno answered vaguely, then quickly changed the subject, "Are you hungry? When was the last time you ate?"

"Uh, awhile ago," Elena had to think before she could answer, "Now that you mention it I am a bit hungry."

"Awesome, because I'm starving," Reno grinned, "You ok here by yourself for a minute? They've got this kick-ass button in these hospital rooms, ya just gotta push it and somebody will show up and do whatever ya want. I wish life came with one of those." Reno was momentarily distracted by this observation of his, "Anyway, it's right there and ya can push it if ya need anything. Ok, I'll be back in a second." The redhead dashed out the door, leaving Elena still trying to catch up with his rapid speech.

She rolled over, glancing at the 'kick-ass' button. A small smile made it's way onto her face. Reno hadn't seemed himself the last time she saw him, but he was back to normal now. _He acts all mean but he's really pretty nice._ She frowned, remembering his long fingers entwined with hers. _A memory or a dream?_ She couldn't remember. Elena held her hand up and looked at it, as if it would tell her whether or not that had really happened. Several moments of concentration produced no magical answers however, and she sighed. _I guess I'll never know. _Much of the previous day was blurred to her now, thankfully. There were moments that still stood out intensely, but they were getting fewer and fewer and becoming less painful. _Guess it's one of those mind things, where you try so hard not to think about something you actually forget. _Elena doubted she'd ever be able to forgot some of the horrid moments of the previous day, but already some of it was fading. Hopefully it wouldn't always be like it was now, where she struggled to constantly keep her attention on something for fear that the memories would fill up her mind again. She sighed and fiddled with the hospital gown she was wearing, wishing she had some of her own sweats.

"I'm back!" Reno announced enthusiastically, triumphantly entering the room with a flat box, "Doughnuts: the best thing you could possibly eat for breakfast."

"Such a healthy choice," Elena commented sarcastically, but was glad because a doughnut sounded just right.

"Oh, but it doesn't stop there," Reno continued, "I even got napkins. Just for you, I'll admit. I don't think they're necessary."

"They are," Elena reprimanded, "Now give me a doughnut."

"Hey, gettin' a little pushy now, aren't we?" Reno raised an eyebrow, but he was smiling, "Here have your doughnut. I'll have you know that women who eat doughnuts before noon are seventy-three percent more likely to gain twenty pounds instantly." He handed her a doughnut on a napkin with a very serious expression.

"You made that up," Elena accused, taking a bite of the delicious food.

"Yes, I did, but it could be possible! I'm just alerting you to the risks of eating these. I feel it's my responsibility," he grinned.

"So where is everybody?" Elena asked, surveying her third doughnut before taking a bite. She would feel guilty for eating that many except she hadn't eaten in more than a day and Reno was already demolishing a fifth. _I'd kill for a guy's metabolism._ She looked at Reno, specifically noticing how thin he was.

"Well for one thing they're not checking me out," Reno began, getting a slight jump out of Elena.

"I was not," she denied, but a tiny guilty blush crept to her cheeks.

"Hey, I'm not blaming you," Reno smirked, "I'm used to it anyway."

"Oh, well aren't you humble," Elena couldn't help but smile.

"Rude is busy hanging around the Sector three reactor in case it goes boom, and Tseng is taking it easy in his office," Reno answered her original question, "He says he's doing paperwork and stuff, but I don't believe him."

Elena smiled, amazed by the redhead's ability to cheer her up. He'd only been there for a bit, and she didn't think he was really trying to make her happy, but she was brightening up anyway. Reno always made her smile, it rarely mattered what he was saying or doing.

"I like sugar," Reno commented, breaking the silence. The random statement only made Elena smile more, further reinforcing her theory that he could always make her happy.

"So how are you?" he asked, once they were both finished eating. His tone was just as light as before, but his eyes showed how serious he was.

"I'll be ok," Elena answered after a moment, "I'll definitely be ok."

"And the bruises?" Reno nodded his approval of her first answer.

"Ugh, still sore," Elena made a face, shifting carefully to avoid causing the bruises to hurt anymore than they already did, "They'll go away though."

"Good," he replied, "So what are we going to do here all day? Hospitals are retarded, they're going to keep you forever no matter how you feel."

"We could sleep," Elena yawned, still tired from her ordeal, "You've been up since yesterday morning, aren't you tired?"

"Nah, I've moved past the tired phase and into the delirious and zoned out phase," he grinned, "And I had coffee and sugar."

"Oh no," Elena fake groaned, "That sounds like a deadly combination. Reno, caffeine, and sugar."

"It is," Reno smiled, "If you wanna sleep though, I won't bother you."

"Good," she answered, cuddling down among the sheets and closing her eyes. A moment of silence passed.

"I'll only poke you every twenty seconds," the redhead calmly added. Elena opened one eye.

"Don't you dare."

"Why, what are you going to do to stop me?" he grinned, happily taunting her as one long finger reached out and poked her arm.

"I'll squeeze your fingers while I sleep until they fall off," Elena laughed lightly at her own morbid joke, grabbing the offending finger tightly as if to prove her point.

"If you wanted to hold my hand while you slept, you could have just asked," Reno still smirked, but the teasing tone was absent from his voice this time as he offered his hand casually. Elena wasn't quite sure how to react to this, so she stared at him blankly for a minute. His deep aquamarine eyes stared right back.

Before the situation became any more awkward, Elena shifted her gaze to the pale-skinned hand stretched out to her, and took it hesitantly. Long, strong fingers quickly wrapped around her delicate, and still a bit shaky ones.

"Now go to sleep," Reno commanded softly, turning his attention to his phone and settling back in his chair next to the hospital bed where the girl lay still staring at their entwined fingers. A smile made it's way onto her face as she drifted to sleep, comforted by the constant feeling of knowing Reno was right there.

* * *

Reno put his phone away thirty minutes later and looked over at Elena, who was sleeping soundly. She looked happier than she had previously, which made him happy. He gently eased out of the chair to stretch his legs, careful not to move the hand she held firmly. Staring down at the bruised, blonde girl who clung to his hand, Reno felt something he didn't think he'd ever felt before. Without bothering to think about it, he bent down and pressed a long, soft kiss on her lips, as lightly as he could to avoid waking her.

"Well this is interesting," the nurse who had been tending to Elena had walked through the door, just as Reno was slowly pulling back. Startled by the unexpected intrusion, his hand automatically went for his gun before his mind registered that there was no threat.

"That's the problem with you Turks," the woman continued, not missing the movement on Reno's part, "You always assume someone's trying to kill you."

"And we're hardly ever wrong," Reno defended, wondering how to save himself from this awkward predicament.

"I didn't know the poor dear had a boyfriend," she didn't respond to his previous comment, before continuing on the train of thought most interesting to her, "So where were you yesterday then? Left the darling with those other two. Nice enough men they were, though." The nurse walked briskly about the room, checking on various things.

"I, um, I'm not her boyfriend," Reno objected awkwardly, for once in his life not sure how to react, "And I was…busy."

"What was so important to keep you away?" the woman did not cut him any slack, and Reno hoped, doubtfully, that she would drop her inquires soon.

"Killing the bastards who did this," the anger he'd felt at the time crept back into his voice as he spoke. The nurse raised an eyebrow, looking back at the redhead from her clipboard.

"So you're not her boyfriend, but clearly she's important enough to you that you track down and kill the men who hurt her, kiss her and let her hold your hand while she sleeps?" the woman laughed mirthlessly, "Sounds to me like somebody has a crush."

Reno didn't say anything, wondering if she would quit asking him things if he quit responding. He sat back in the chair next to the bed, careful not to disturb the hand Elena still held. When it was put so bluntly, Reno realized how obvious the feelings he was confused about were.

"So why won't she go out with you?" The silence couldn't have lasted for long, and now Reno only prayed Elena wouldn't wake up soon.

"I never said she rejected me," Reno frowned, not comfortable with this idea, and slightly offended that the woman would come to this conclusion.

"You haven't asked her then?"

"No," Reno mumbled, annoyed by this overly curious nurse.

"Well why not?" she pressed, apparently finished with whatever work she had in that room, but lingering to continue interrogating Reno.

"I just figured this out, ok!" the redhead defended hotly, his quick temper flaring up.

"Hmm, alright, calm down,," she relented, heading for the door, "It won't do any good keeping it to yourself." She offered a bit of unwanted advice before leaving him in peace.

Reno looked over at Elena, sort of relieved at his discovery, but concerned. Bad things had a tendency to follow people he cared for, and look at what had already happened to her! He couldn't bear to imagine what awful things would befall her if he openly loved Elena.

_Author's Note: Ok, a couple of things, in that little passage up there where Reno was in his office, I in no way am trying to slam scientists. =P You guys are cool, not trying to insult you. Just to be clear. xD Also, to those of you who might have been worried the story was going to turn depressing, NO, IT ISN'T!!! Hurray!!! It was definately going that way for a bit there, but I'm trying to swing it around. I never intended for this story to be depressing, like my last one. Dang, that one depressed me so bad. Anyway. This is not a depressing story!!! They're so good to write though aren't they??? AH! Off topic! What is the topic?? The topic is "Author's Note"...which is basically anything that pops into my head and is sometimes vaguely related to the story or stories in general. =) Ok, I'll shut up, but one last thing! I'd like to ask all of you, my faithful and awesome readers, to pray for me during the next week since I'll be having a surgery. True it's minor, but whatever. Still. =) So pray for me, keep me in your thoughts, whatever it is you personally do, go for it. xD I'd greatly appreciate it. Look at it this way, if some freak accident occured, you'd never get to read the rest of this story!!! *gasp* And I have good stuff in store for you. =P So yes. Now that I've bribed you for good will.....COOKIES FOR ALL! xD If only they were real...that would rock. I want a cookie now......hmm....*goes to find cookie* _


	16. Chapter 16

_Author's Note: I'M !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MWUHAHAHAHAHA!!! The world will never be the same. First of all, I'M SO SUPER DUPER SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING SOONER!!!! =( I left that note for you guys that one time, and then the next Friday I was out of town, and then yesterday I just plain forgot. I had so much going on that I literally forgot what day it was. =( I was settling down to write for a bit before going to sleep and I was like.........wait a minute...and then it hit me and I felt terrible and so I rushed on to fanfiction and here is your update!!! Not quite the massive and epic chapter I was hoping to give you guys, but it's still pretty cool. And 6,000 words...ish. So I hope you enjoy. xD For those of you interested in my personal health, I'm recovering nicely. =) Back to my normal routine, still in a bit of pain here and there, but off the meds and doing fine for the most part. =) I still get tired easily and zone out all the time. xD Luckily when anyone complains I can point out I had a SURGERY less than three weeks ago. xD As much as I'd love to hang around and jabber, I've got a bit of writing to do and then a whole lotta sleeping to get done. =) So ENJOY YOUR UPDATE!!!!! Missed you guys!! xD _

"Cozy?" Rude's voice pulled Reno from the state of half-sleep he'd fallen into. The redhead was still in the hospital room with Elena, who was still clutching his hand. Apparently staying awake all night was catching up to him.

"Uhhh," Reno was unable to come up with an answer, and instead, switched the topic, "Is it night all ready? Anything going on at the reactor?"

"Yeah, time flies when you're having fun," Rude didn't comment further on the hand-holding, but he was smiling hugely as he took a seat in the room, "Boring as hell down there. It's your turn now anyway, if you can manage to tear yourself away." Rude grinned again, enjoying Reno's discomfort with his presence. The redhead was always in control of any situation, so it was nice to see him at a loss for once. It certainly wasn't women Reno didn't know how to handle, no, Reno could teach even Rufus a thing or two about romancing a woman, but it was actually caring for one that he was unfamiliar with.

"Yup, I'll go," Reno got up at once, hesitating while staring at his captured hand. Carefully slipping it out of Elena's, he left the room quickly. Rude laughed quietly and shook his head, watching the man go. For someone so excellent at lying and picking out other's lies, Reno was surprisingly transparent at times. At least to Rude.

A few moments later, Elena stirred and opened her eyes, disturbed in her sleep by Reno's departure. Rude noticed her looking at her hand, confused, before she saw him.

"Hey," she yawned, "Where did Reno go?"

"It's his turn to watch the reactor," Rude replied, watching her carefully for reactions, "He'll be back in the morning."

"Oh," her face fell, and Rude smiled, not because he was happy she was saddened by this, but because he'd just gotten all the confirmation he needed. "Did he sleep any?" she asked a moment later, concern showing on her face, "He'd been up all night."

"Yeah, he was asleep when I came," Rude answered.

"Good." That information seemed to please her at least. Elena was quiet for a minute, staring absently at the chair next to her bed that Reno had occupied. A deep thought wrinkled her forehead, and Elena's eyes darkened.

"Rude?" she called quietly.

"Mm-hm?"

"Do you think.." she was hesitant, still staring at the vacated chair, "Do you think anyone would still want me?"

"What?" Rude, although extremely perceptive, was a bit confused about what she meant, and where she was going with this.

"I feel….broken," her frown deepened and her voice, that had dropped to a whisper, quavered a little, "Do you think people would still want to be with me?" Rude saw what was bothering her now.

"Elena, you are a special and beautiful woman," Rude said seriously, "And nothing anyone does to you can change that. There's nothing wrong with you, and any man that wouldn't want to be with you is an idiot."

"Thank you," Elena teared up, but smiled a little. Rude knew how to say nice things to women, just like Reno, only when Reno said them he was usually trying to get something, while Rude only said it if he meant it. _Hopefully she'll feel better now._ Elena was a sweet girl and Rude didn't like seeing her so upset.

"Hey, Rude, I have one more question." It was instantly obvious to Rude that Elena was trying to sound casual.

"And what is that?"

"Is Reno an idiot?" she ventured to say, softly, but with a strong curiosity behind it. Rude smiled at the creatively phrased question.

"No, Reno's extremely clever."

* * *

Reno ambled slowly through the maze of hallways and catwalks that ran through the mako reactor. As he walked, he carefully glanced around, making sure nothing was out of place. He'd been through twice already, and nothing was standing out to him, but still he walked although he was bored to death. He was afraid he'd fall asleep if he sat down somewhere. Reno yawned, wishing he'd spent more time sleeping while he was at the hospital with Elena. He hadn't wanted to when he was there, preferring to watch her sleep instead. _That's what I was supposed to be doing anyway: watching Elena._ He was irritated, with himself and the world in general, just because he was so tired. Still, now Reno wished he'd slept then instead of watching every flicker of an eyelid, every breath rise and fall.

Humming a song to himself under his breath, Reno kept walking, desperate for morning to come quickly. He told himself it was because it was boring as hell at the reactor, but he knew it really had more to do with the fact that with morning came his next shift with Elena at the hospital.

* * *

"When do I get to leave?" Elena asked Rude suddenly, early the next morning. Her voice was slightly impatient as she stared out the window of her room at the bland view of grey buildings, rising tall and effectively blocking out whatever meager skyline there was.

"I don't know," Rude answered thoughtfully. He frowned trying to remember, but didn't think anyone had said anything about when Elena was free to go.

The girl was tired of sitting around doing nothing. She was still quite sore, and still felt ill overall, but her problem now was more of a mental thing, not to be cured by laying in an almost empty room doing nothing. She was about to go crazy sitting in this room being watched all the time. Could she not be left alone for a bit? It was exhausting keeping up appearances. She felt almost emotionally dead, and a bit listless, but she wanted to get out of there and back into her life. She was sure it would help her move on. At least she hoped it would. Elena sighed, glancing restlessly about the room. She wished Reno was back. Rude was incredibly nice, but he wasn't as talkative as Reno, preferring to sit quietly. No one could bring a smile to her face and keep her thoughts off darker things like Reno could.

"I'll go ask a nurse when you can go," Rude offered, noticing her discontent.

"You don't have to," Elena said, but Rude was already out of his chair and he disregarded her comment as he left the room. She felt a bit guilty for making him get up. He'd looked comfortable, or at least as comfortable as one could get in those impossible chairs.

"You suck," Elena whispered to one of the empty chairs near her bed, somehow getting satisfaction out of berating the object.

"Are you talking to me, or your imaginary friend?" Reno questioned, entering the room with a ridiculous stealth, leaning in the doorway and looking at her with an amused expression. He was secretly glad he'd happened to walk in at that moment. It saved him from the possibly awkward entrance he'd been expecting, considering what had happened last time he saw her.

"I don't have an imaginary friend," Elena turned sharply, saying the first thing that came to her head as she blushed, having been surprised.

"So you were talking to me then?" Reno faked hurt feelings, "Fine, if I suck so bad I'll just leave." He turned as if to walk out the door.

"Wait, come back!" Elena called, smiling now. Reno walked into the room this time, pleased to hear the urgency in her voice when she called him back.

"Where's Rude?" he asked, plopping down in the chair that sucked, and stretching his legs with a yawn. He was really tired now.

"I'm right here," the bald man answered from the door, the nurse that tended to Elena right behind him. Reno sat up a little straighter upon seeing this woman again, and quickly wiped away an external sign of the nervousness he felt by her presence. He hoped she had the good sense not to say anything regarding their previous conversation.

"He tells me you're feeling better," the nurse said to Elena, completely ignoring everyone else for the moment.

"Yes, I am. I'm sore still, but I'm sick of sitting around all day doing nothing. When do I get to leave?"

"Well, I guess you can go today if you're feeling better," the nurse referred to her ever-present clipboard, "Get lots of rest and keep busy, without wearing yourself out dear. Stick around your friends as much as possible, it's not good being alone for too long," the woman smiled kindly at Elena, apparently having a soft spot for the blonde.

"I'll tell Tseng," Rude offered, pulling out his cell phone and sending a quick text message.

"I see you're back," the nurse turned her attention to Reno, smirking slightly.

"Yup," Reno tried to stick to something simple, hoping to avoid further conversation. His internal wince didn't show at all on the outside, which was as calm as if a random stranger had commented on the weather.

"Hmm," the nurse smiled, "Take care of her."

"Uh, ok," Reno agreed, surprised by her command and afraid that how much he meant it would show through. He frowned slightly at the floor, trying to casually not look at anyone. No one had a poker face like Reno, but sometimes he felt too strongly about something to completely suppress it. His aquamarine eyes were the weak spot, made all the more expressive by how they lightened or darkened depending on his mood.

The nurse proceeded to check on all of Elena's vitals one last time. She disconnected any of the monitoring machines still connected.

"These are sedatives," the women announced matter-of-factly to the two other Turks, holding up a small, plastic, orange, cylinder, "Not strong enough to knock her out with one dosage, but enough to calm her down if it becomes necessary." She held the bottle out to Reno, who kept his hands in his pockets and looked at the bottle uncomfortably.

"I'll hold on to them," Rude intervened within seconds, taking the bottle and putting it carefully into his pocket.

Elena frowned slightly, wondering if it was just her imagination or if something odd had just happened. Even disinterested in everything as she was then, she had a tremendous curiosity. She filed the abnormal behavior away for further pondering when she was distracted by Tseng entering the room.

"I didn't realize you would be leaving the hospital today, or I would have brought these by sooner," he set a bag down on the bed next to her. Elena looked into it to find her favorite sweatpants, t-shirt, and jacket.

"Thanks," Elena smiled a little, pleased to have the very clothes she would have picked for herself at that time. She hadn't even thought about what she would wear out of the hospital. The clothes she'd had before were pretty much un-wearable now, and even if they were in perfect condition she wouldn't want to wear them anyway. Elena was glad they were gone. She felt like they were material memories, and she obviously was trying to erase any sign or remembrance of the worst night and day of her life.

"Good, now get out," the nurse continued dishing out commands as if she were the very President of Shinra, "She'll meet you in the hall when she's ready."

"I've got to go keep an eye on the reactor," Rude said when they were all three safely kicked out of the hospital room, "These are for her in case they become needed." He handed the pill bottle to Tseng, who nodded and tucked them away carefully.

"See ya," Reno gave a tiny wave as Rude disappeared down the hall.

"I've got a lot of work waiting on me," Tseng said, "I've got to get back to the office. You are still going to be taking care of Elena today. For security reasons, she can't have the same apartment so I already had all her things moved to a new one. Bought and paid for by Shinra. Sort of compensation since this incident did fall technically within a mission."

"So now you're trying to compensate her for being attacked and raped?" Reno questioned, his voice clearly displaying his quickly rising anger.

"Well, no…," Tseng averted the swiftly approaching danger he heard in the redhead's tone by giving him the answer he wanted, "First of all, _I'm _not giving her an apartment, Shinra is. Secondly, would you rather they didn't? It's the least they can do. You ought to be happy. It's closer to Shinra headquarters and a few blocks from Rude's apartment. Very nice place. Why don't you move to that area too, Reno? You can't possibly like the trashy building you live in now. I sign your paycheck, I know you can afford it."

"Don't tell me what I do and do not like," Reno had calmed down now, but as always, his temper could be roused in seconds, "I'm fine where I'm living."

"Whatever," Tseng gave up, giving Reno a slip of paper and a key, "This is her new address. Take her wherever she wants to go, but make sure you see her into her apartment whenever she chooses to go home. We're not having a repeat performance."

"Hell no," Reno said emphatically, shaking his head. He placed the paper and key into his pocket as Elena joined them in the hall followed by the nurse. She moved a little slowly but wasn't shaky at all and needed no help.

"I must get back to my work, Elena," Tseng said, "But I will see you soon. Come back to work whenever you feel you are ready. Reno's going to stay with you today. Would you like to hang on to these, or shall I continue to do so?" He offered the orange bottle to her.

"I'll keep them," Elena took it. _I don't need them. But if I did…_If she did need them she certainly didn't want them to know that she was needing them. It was bad enough that they had to witness all this mess. _I'm supposed to be a Turk! Not some helpless wimp. _

"Alright. Well I'll see you both later then," Tseng walked off down the hall at his clipped pace, but not before giving the girl a smile.

"She's all yours," the nurse said to Reno, "Take care, dearie." She patted Elena's shoulder gently with a motherly smile. She too walked off leaving the blonde and the redhead by themselves.

"You have a new apartment," Reno said, not entirely sure what to say.

"Really?" she looked surprised, "I guess that makes sense. Where is it?"

"I've got the address. It's near Rude's. We can go whenever you want," he replied, "I have orders to take you wherever you want to go."

"It's fine, you don't have to," Elena quickly offered, afraid he might be bored with his assignment.

"No, I will. I want to," he answered calmly, "So where do you want to go? Home? Food? Clubbing?"

"I just want to go to my apartment," Elena smiled at his humor. Reno nodded.

"Wanna walk or drive?"

Elena considered her options briefly. Knowing how Reno drove, she decided walking would be less of an ordeal. She liked to walk anyway. It always helped clear her head and she could certainly use that right now.

"Let's walk. It's not too far anyway is it?"

Reno shook his head.

They walked several blocks in silence, neither having much to say.

"You ok?" Reno asked, glancing back at her as she slowed down to more of a trudge. He'd noticed her steadily slowing down for awhile now.

"Yeah, just a little tired," she answered, "Haven't moved much in the past few days. I haven't slept very well lately either. Bruises too." She looked uncomfortable, obviously recalling the origin of the reasons of her fatigue.

"Hop on," Reno said, although it was more of a demand, turning his back and intending to let her ride on his back. Elena was on the verge of refusing, but she really was tired and there weren't many people out on the streets then anyway.

"Are you sure?" she was still hesitant.

"Yeah, ya think I can't carry you?" He gave her a skeptical look.

"No, I'm sure you can," Elena almost blushed as she replied, recalling the days when she'd first met Reno and he'd been in the hospital. Apparently Reno had managed to be annoying enough to get the hospital staff to allow him to wear just sweatpants and screw the gown. Yes, Elena knew he could carry her, and very likely someone much heavier. He was extremely thin still, but there was incredible strength in his lean muscles.

She hopped onto his back lightly, hoping for vanity's sake that she felt very light. It pleased her when Reno barely moved from the force of her added weight. He caught her easily, wrapping his arms under her knees. Feeling a little awkward about it, Elena had to hold onto his shoulders to keep her balance. Reno walked on, whistling aimlessly as he did frequently.

Elena amused herself by marveling at how smooth the ride was. If you watched Reno walk, he seemed rather bouncy, but now she could appreciate how accustomed to walking silently he really was. It took skill and a lot of careful use of the muscles to move without making a sound, and it seemed the longer you were a Turk, the more you got used to it. While he wasn't bothering to move silently, muscle memory kicked in and he walked as smoothly as was needed to be quiet.

She took this opportunity to look at his blood-red hair too. She'd always wondered if it was dyed, but under her close examination she came to the surprising conclusion that it wasn't. It was a mess, but looked fairly soft all the same. _I want to touch it. _The ruffled mass of blood-red hair directly in front of her was tempting, and she wondered if he'd notice if she did touch it. _He probably would._ She decided not to risk it, and instead distracted herself by glancing around, enjoying her view of the world from a foot or two higher. Reno was tall and she was already on the short side, so being up on his back put Elena up a bit. Loosing interest in the bland scenery quickly, Elena was about to go back to her fascination with his hair when a particular face from the crowd caught her eye. It was one she'd never forget, burned into her mind as it was. Mind-freezing fear and almost physically painful memories washed over her and she sucked in a breath and instinctively pulled herself closer to Reno, clutching his shoulders tightly.

"What?" Reno questioned, sounding worried and stopping suddenly.

"It's…it's…one of them," she pointed with a single shaking finger, unable to tear her gaze from the man who walked along swiftly on the opposite side of the road, going the other way and not seeming to notice them. Reno followed her point and recognized the man from the bar and the man from the picture Tseng had sent them while they waited outside the building Elena had been helped captive in. Within seconds, Reno slipped her off his back and held her close to him protectively with one arm. He pulled a gun from the inside of his jacket so quickly it seemed to have just appeared in his hand. In one fluid and impossibly fast motion, Reno took aim and fired a single shot. The man had hardly hit the ground, shot in the head, before the gun was safely in Reno's jacket again and he had pulled Elena into the nearest alley so they wouldn't be seen by anyone who came to investigate the shot.

"Lucky the street was empty," Reno said quietly, now wrapping his other arm around the girl as well. A dying anger pervaded his tone as he looked down at her. "You ok?" She only nodded, eyes squeezed shut and fists clenched tightly on his chest. She was desperately fighting against the flood of suppressed memories that were awakened by the sight of a face that haunted so many of them. She calmed her breathing enough to notice that Reno was still gently holding her against him. She could feel his fingers fiddling with the ends of her hair. Being held so securely, but still delicately, made her feel safe.

Before long Elena blinked open her eyes and found herself clutching Reno's black jacket. Letting her eyes travel up his pale neck, she found him looking down at her with concerned curiosity.

"Alright?" he questioned quietly with a comforting grin.

"Yeah," Elena answered, still staring up into his close face. There was silence for a moment before she blinked and let go of his collar, awkwardly backing away. His arms fell from around her easily enough as she moved away, but he himself made no move to remove them.

"Ready to go?" Elena nodded her reply, and was about to walk off when he grabbed her gently and lightly swung her up onto his back again without a word. Reno didn't let her down until they stood before the door to her new apartment. Letting her slip down, he pulled the key out of his pocket.

"Your apartment, you get to do the honors," his grin made her smile too and she accepted the offered key and unlocked the door.

When they walked in, a medium-sized front hall greeted them, complete with a coat rack and tiled floors for wet or dirty shoes.

"Not too shabby," Reno declared, shutting the door behind him and wasting no time in checking out the rest of the place.

"Wow, I guess he wasn't joking when he said they moved me in," Elena stood still in the middle of the living area, glancing around at all her things set up as closely to what they had previously been as was possible.

"Yeah, Shinra's thorough like that," the redhead commented, letting himself fall onto the couch, legs dangling over the arm of the piece of furniture, "The surprises aren't as pleasant when you're on their bad side."

"They are aren't they," Elena mused, wandering around and glancing in various rooms of the spacious apartment. All her things had moved in so perfectly it was almost as if she'd never moved. "You probably know already but I heard that building was blown up."

"Who told you that?" Reno asked, his interest not showing in his carefully controlled voice.

"The news. Rude was napping and the only thing on was the news. They showed where it had been and I recognized it." Not much emotion showed in her voice, but it was clear she was pleased by the place's fate. "It's really obliterated."

"Yup," the redhead pulled himself up lazily, "I took care of it. I'm probably in trouble for that actually." His voice trailed off as though he didn't care, which was quite an honest expression.

"Why would you be in trouble?"

"Well, I didn't exactly get authorization for that. I felt like blowin' the shit outta that place, so I did," Reno grinned, apparently enjoying defying authority and breaking regulations.

"Are they seriously mad at you?" she poked around, re-arranging things slightly here and there to better suite the new room layouts.

"Some of the higher-ups are probably pretty pissed, but Tseng's real good at chillin' 'em all out," Reno smirked devilishly, "He's gotten used to it since I joined." Elena rolled her eyes, knowing how true that was. She still smiled though. Reno's attitude amused her. "I'm not worried 'bout it," Reno wandered into the kitchen of her new apartment, "I do plenty of shit and I haven't gotten fired yet. Me and Rufus get along sorta good, so I get away with a lot. Hey, look! They bought you groceries. Want me to cook you something?"

Elena came to examine the bags of food on the counter, waiting for her to organize them. There were a few bags in the fridge as well.

"Sweet," she then frowned slightly and turned to the redhead with surprise, "You can cook?"

"Yeah, I live by myself and I gotta eat somehow," he answered, grinning at her disbelief, "I don't always feel like take-out. So want me to make ya somethin' or not?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry," she walked slowly out of the kitchen, "I'll put those away later." She referred to the grocery bags as she collapsed on the sofa, curling up and staring blankly at the TV. Reno followed her and leaned against the back of the couch looking over her.

"I'm supposed to be takin' care of you," he said quietly, but still cheerfully, "So what can I get for ya?"

"That blanket," she pointed to one tossed over the back of a chair, "And then come sit down." Reno did as he was told, carefully throwing the blanket over her and sitting down on the couch. Finding the remote in record time, he clicked on the TV and flipped through channels until he found something to amuse himself with. He took care to keep the volume down as long as Elena was resting, and rest she did, falling into a state of half-slumber. She zoned out staring at the TV, not really thinking at all and glad of it since as long as she wasn't thinking, those awful memories couldn't attack her again.

Even in her empty state of mind, something flickered up, a memory from one of her recent conversations with Rude. If she remembered it correctly, and if Rude had understood what she was implying, then it was possible that Reno had feelings for her, or at least Rude believed so. Frowning slightly, Elena puzzled over this topic intensely. There were lots of factors and only the perfect equation would produce that answer. Reviewing all her interactions with Reno for some sign of whether or not he cared for her, she was unable to come to a distinct conclusion. She was fairly certain he didn't hate her, unless he did an amazing job of covering it up, but she wasn't sure he loved her either. _Do I want him to? _She decided this was the real question, but analyze as she might, she couldn't find an answer to it. Maybe it was her tired brain, her shattered nerves, maybe her muddled emotions, or a combination of all, but she couldn't decide how she felt about him. Elena knew she liked him well enough, but if it was anything more she couldn't then say.

Sneaking a hesitant glance at him, she discovered he'd fallen asleep slouching next to her on the couch. He looked less relaxed asleep than he did awake. Pondering this Elena came to the conclusion that he was always that alert, but covered it up when he was conscious enough to do so. He looked light he might be able to intercept any attack made on him right then, no matter how sneaky the attacker. _He's been a Turk far too long_. The observation made her a little sad as she considered the realization that being a Turk wasn't just a job. It became your life. There was no going back. Reno had made it clear to her at the beginning that you couldn't just quit or be fired. If a Turk didn't die in service, he was 'taken care of' in some other way eventually. _A hefty price to pay. And for what?_ She became more depressed as she reflected. _Getting to kill people or worse? Getting almost killed, and raped?_ She frowned remembering the unfortunate events that had befallen her and Reno within the small amount of time she'd been with the Turks. _So what good is it then? _The pay was nice, but that was all. _We give up our entire lives to become something we can't ever go back from. Killers, that's what we are. Always phrased differently at Shinra, but that's what we are. _

When Elena had joined, just weeks ago, it had seemed like just a job. She'd known what they did, but not quite the extent of it, nor that it wasn't simply a job, but much more. Yet she didn't regret it, and she couldn't figure out why. With a puzzled frown still on her face, she glanced over at Reno again and the confusion cleared from her mind and face. _Reno. If I hadn't become a Turk, I never would have met him. _She smiled slightly remembering her first days with the redhead. _I don't regret joining the Turks because it's how I met the man I…love. _

It made so much sense she wondered how she'd missed it before. With her mind cleared, Elena was able to discern how she truly felt about Reno, and the more she looked at him, the more she knew she was right. Her depression was replaced with a cozy, warm feeling on the inside and she reached out spontaneously to hold his hand as she fell asleep next to him on the couch.

* * *

Reno opened his eyes, surprised to find he'd fallen asleep. He found himself staring at a TV that was not his in a room that was not his. Confused for just a second, he remembered what he'd been doing and in the same instant felt Elena's hand in his. She was still asleep, a good thing since she looked pretty exhausted. Ignoring the dumb commercials on the TV, Reno randomly wondered why people held hands anyway. The few times in his life he'd done it he never recalled decided to hold someone's hand, it had always just happened. _I guess people like to feel the people they care about are there. Did I grab her hand?_ He frowned, trying to remember if he had taken it or not. In light of the revelation he'd just made, Reno glanced at her, wondering if she'd reached out to hold his hand. Watching her, he felt a strange fluttery feeling growing in the pit of his stomach and it made him uncomfortable, but he decided he liked it. Looking away to make it stop, he found his eyes sliding back to look at her again. He wanted to kiss her, take care of her, hold her, protect her. Reno desperately wanted to love her.

Tearing his eyes away successfully this time, Reno felt literal pain in his heart because he was afraid if he loved her, terrible things would happen to her. _Look at what already happened._ For some reason, awful things had always befallen those he was close to and it scared him. Slipping off the sofa gently, he leaned over carefully and brushed his lips as lightly as he could over her forehead so as not to wake her. Letting her hand fall out of his, Reno walked into the other room with a resolute sigh. He couldn't love her, but he did on the inside and there wasn't anything he could do about it, so Reno decided to ignore it and attempt to keep his distance. Standing around in the kitchen, Reno started to put the groceries away for lack of anything else to do.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked several minutes later from the doorway, blinking the remains of sleep from her eyes.

"Anythin'," Reno answered, smiling at her over his shoulder, "I'm bored. Hope I didn't wake you up."

"No, you didn't," she started helping, "Hey, if you're bored you don't have to hang around. You can go back to work or something."

"Nah, it's cool. I don't go to work on days that end in 'y' anyway," he smirked at his own joke, glancing down at Elena to see her reaction.

"Alright, stay if you want to," she laughed, "It's fine with me."

Before long, it was time for Reno to go take Rude's place at the reactor.

"You gonna be ok?" he asked, his tone light, but his aquamarine eyes betrayed how serious he was.

"I'll be fine," she answered quietly, trying to hid the involuntary smile that appeared on her face when she saw how concerned he was for her, "I'm really tired. I'll probably just go to bed and then come to work in the morning."

"Alright," the redhead grinned, not sounding totally convinced, "If ya need me, ya know where to find me. I got my phone on all the time, so you can call me. Honestly, I'd be happy for an excuse to leave the reactor. Gets borin' as hell down there." The words were hardly out of his mouth before he frowned and quickly stammered to correct himself. "I mean, not happy that you needed me, well actually yeah, I'd be happy if you needed me, but not happy that you had a problem, I wouldn't like it if you had a problem."

"I get it, I'll be fine," Elena cut him off, really trying hard now to hide her growing smile as she laughed at the rushed tumble of words coming out of his mouth, "Now you'd better go before Rude gets mad at you."

"Yeah, you're right," Reno stared at her awkwardly and shifted from foot to foot for a moment, "Ok, bye." He turned sharply and got out the door as quickly as he could.

Elena honestly believed her new apartment seemed a notch or two less bright as soon as he left. A smile still lingered on her face as she replayed her recent moments with him, enjoying them until they faded away.

She had been honest with him. She was quite exhausted and she went to bed not long after he left although it was still fairly early by her standards. It was nice to be back in her own bed again, and though she felt her aloneness vividly, it was also a relief to finally quit forcing a smile, a pleasant look, for the benefit of her watchers, and give in to some much needed tears. By the time she was emotionally drained, Elena was fast asleep.

_Author's Note: Ok, so forgive me for not replying to your reviews lately, I promise I get them and read them and love them and practically frame them on my wall, but I just don't always get the chance to reply. =( Still, please, please, please, PLEASE, please leave them for me because there's nothing better than getting those reviews. =) It's cool because I love to hear from the same people every chapter, or even every now and then, and I will get to the point where I look for certain people to review because I know they read, but then I'm always thrilled when someone new reviews too. =) So win, win...WIN! The Office fans will appreciate that. xD It's a TV show by the way, for those of you who aren't fans. =) Oh, I know Elena's whole recovery thing may seem kind of messed up, but I really suck at steady recovery and in-between stages and stuff like that. I can either have someone in critical condition 24/7 or I can have them doing great. =P I suck anywhere in between that. LOL. Anyway, I'm going to shut up now and go write some epic kick-assery. I made that word up today. =D Feel free to use it at will. LOVE YOU GUYS!!!_


	17. Chapter 17

_Author's Note: Woot! Update! You guys are lucky, this one is 7,000 words! =P I had a couple nights of really good writing this week so. Hurray! =) This story is really long isn't it? It's already about 17,000 words longer than my longest one so far. And it's not nearly done yet. =P Hope you all don't mind. I'm really enjoying this one and it's only just starting to get good in my mind. So anyway, I'm being quick because it's late, but I hope you all enjoy this update!!!_

Reno wandered aimlessly around the massive building that housed the Sector Three mako reactor. There were cramped offices and neat hallways towards the front of the building, but he preferred the cavernous back area that actually contained the machinery. It was one gigantic room, the floor covered in machines, some of which were huge and reached far up towards the ceiling, others smaller and more spread across the ground floor. A maze of catwalks were suspended by strong, steel, cables and ran across the room on different levels, some so high it felt like there should be wind. Reno liked walking the catwalks. Not many people were there during the day, much less at night when everything was mostly monitored by security camera. Besides, who could make it to a six story metal bridge without coming in through a door? They guarded the entrances in person, but left the interior to cameras watched lazily by a few men far off in a control room, and to the lone Turk. Reno had never had a problem with heights, actually he really enjoyed them. The higher up you were the quieter it was besides wind, but even that became silent if you got high enough. It was one of the reasons why he loved to fly, although when he got to fly he was normally lower than he would have liked.

Looking down below, Reno could hardly see the ground level as it disappeared into shadowy shapes in the dim lighting of the few lights left on at night. Noticing a catwalk a few stories down crossing underneath the one he was on, Reno grinned, an idea coming to him. Sizing up the distance, he grabbed one of the cables supporting the small metal walkway, and hopped onto the rail, causing the whole thing to sway a bit. Not surprising, it was suspended only by flexible cables. Waiting barely a second or two for it to settle, Reno jumped off. The incredible silence of his fall was broken only by the flapping of his jacket. Within seconds, he landed, in a crouched position to soften and silence his fall, on the catwalk below with hardly a sound other than a metallic thump. He smiled hugely, elated by the thrilling stunt. He knew Rude would disapprove. The man had enough problems with the random and unnecessary stunts Reno pulled when they were together, but he was even more against Reno doing his usual crazy maneuvers by himself, as Rude was convinced Reno would hurt himself one day and no one would be there to help him.

Reno didn't care, since when had he ever cared? Besides, he knew what he was capable of and was confident in his abilities. _This is one of those times when that mako comes in handy._ As he was running lightly down the catwalk, Reno could see much better than most in the darkened room, lit only here and there with dim lights. Hardly pausing to evaluate the leap, Reno jumped again as soon as he saw another intersecting catwalk. He didn't break to catch his balance when he landed. He didn't have to. He kept running, jumping off without missing a beat every time he saw a path below him until he hopped off onto the ground.

Pausing a moment to straighten his jacket as if he cared what it looked like, Reno headed off towards the office area of the building to check up on the guards up there.

"Yo," Reno sort of fell into the nearest swivel chair, purposefully causing it to slide across the entire room, which wasn't very far. Most of the eyes in the room followed the eccentric Turk from the door to the opposite wall without much surprise on their faces. They were used to his not necessarily professional behavior. Not like they could relax around him any better. A Turk was a Turk, no matter how unserious he seemed, and you didn't relax around a Turk. "Hey, where's that other one?" Reno glanced over the assembled guards with a slight frown on his face. One of them was missing.

"Larry. His name is Larry," someone corrected.

"Yeah, whatever, where is he?"

"Called in sick," one of the nearest men replied, "He sounded awful."

"Overly dramatic," Reno shook his head, "He's probably faking it. Not that I care. If ya wanna day off, get it. I do it all the time. Ran out of sick days. Then I tried calling in dead one time…" Reno's voice trailed off, this last comment getting smiles out of the good-natured men in the room, and frowns out of the more stern. "Not the smartest option, but hey, I was ridiculously wasted the night before so I had one hell of a hangover." Reno was quite chatty at times, something they'd gotten used to as well. None of them ever really said much back, they weren't comfortable enough to.

"They'll really hire anyone, won't they?" one guard muttered to another under his breath on the opposite side of the room. The other had barely time to nod before Reno was leaning on the backs of their chairs.

"No, actually not. They have all sorts of training shit you gotta get through first," he grinned down at their terrified faces. How on earth had he heard them from across the room, and gotten there so quickly and silently? "Course, most of it they let me skip," Reno continued, his voice as calm and lazy as before, "Once they figured out what I can do." Reno dropped his voice to a whisper, that somehow adopted a menacing air although he never changed his tone, "Watch what you say. I may not be in such a good mood next time."

Leaving with a satisfied smirk on his face, Reno walked out of the room, not having to look to know they were all scared out of their minds.

* * *

Hours earlier, in a far different part of the Sector, poor Larry the security guard hung up his phone and gulped nervously, unable to take his eyes off the shiny glint at his throat.

"Alright," he stammered, "They think I'm sick."

"Perfect," one of the three men completely clad in black in the room replied, "Now we need a few more things before we're done with you."

Scared into telling them whatever they asked, it wasn't long before the mysterious intruders who had invaded his home knew the patrolling schedules of all the guards, except the Turk. No one had mentioned the Turk, and Larry was smart enough to keep it to himself. No, he wasn't about to mention either of the two, one of which was always at the reactor now. The Turk was their only hope. These men now had possession of his security pass for the building, allowing them access to anywhere they wanted to go with just the swipe of a card.

"We're done here. You've been exceptionally cooperative," the only man who had ever spoken continued, his voice low and cold, "So I'm going to reward you."

"With what?"

"With a quick death." An impossibly fast flash of metal later, and Larry was slumped against the wall, a slit across his throat so smooth it would have been invisible except for the dark blood which instantly began to flow thickly. Not waiting on anything, the three men moved to the back window they'd entered by, and climbed down the brick wall without any tools other than hands and feet. Their departure was as perfectly silent as their arrival, making the barely visible black clad shapes more likely shadows than actual material objects to anyone who might have caught sight of them, low as the chance was in the dark alley they left by.

* * *

Reno quietly stalked through the reactor building as morning came, watching as the workers showed up one by one for their various jobs. Before long the place was full of activity, much different from the empty darkness of the night. Wandering around waiting for Rude to show up, Reno's phone buzzed at him from his pocket. A quick text from Tseng told him to go back to Shinra headquarters right then, instead of waiting for Rude.

"What's goin' on now?" he muttered aloud, glancing around one last time before swiftly heading back.

* * *

"What?" Reno demanded, entering Tseng's office without knocking, without even slowing down.

"Polite, as ever," Tseng commented sarcastically. Both Rude and Elena were already seated in the office, and now had their attention focused on Reno.

"Ya knew what ya were gettin' into when ya hired me," Reno replied, not missing a beat, "Now why don't ya tell me what's so important that you had to call me away from my oh-so-thrilling guard duties."

"Well first of all, I'm sure you've noticed Elena is back," Tseng began, ignoring Reno's opening comment.

"I'd go crazy sitting around doing nothing," Elena explained, smiling at Reno.

"Yeah, I noticed," Reno grinned back at Elena, but replied to Tseng. "Doin' ok?" he asked the girl casually.

"Yeah, except I've got a headache. Nothing major," she answered with a tiny frown.

"Take an aspirin," Reno suggested, pulling a small bottle out of his pocket and tossing it lightly to her.

"That should help," Elena caught the bottle, brightening up a little, "Thanks." The following awkward silence caused her to look up and notice that both Tseng and Rude were giving Reno odd looks.

"What?" the redhead demanded, a slightly annoyed tone in his voice that Elena usually only heard in the voices of people who knew 'what'.

"Why exactly do you carry a bottle of aspirin around with you?" Tseng asked slowly.

"Well in case I ever get a headache," Reno answered as if this was painfully obvious.

"Most people don't carry pills around with them constantly," Rude mentioned, earning himself a quick glare from Reno, who was clearly bristling.

"You can't abuse aspirin," Reno said quietly, but fiercely, leaning in towards the desk.

"Yes, you can," Tseng replied, making no effort to keep his voice down.

"Fine, but I'm not. What did you want to tell us?" Reno fell back in his chair roughly, his voice only showing traces of anger as he made it clear he was through discussing that particular issue. However, Elena noticed how dark his normally bright, sparkling aqua eyes were, and the carefully blank look on his face, a sure sign to those who knew him that he was covering up some emotion.

"This reactor business has become even more priority then it was before," Tseng continued after a moment of watching Reno closely, "This morning one of the night guards was found dead in his home, throat slit."

Reno frowned, his attention drawn from his inner brooding.

"He was discovered by another of the night guards, a close friend apparently. He said the man, a Larry Grant, had called in sick the night before and he was stopping by on his way home to see if he could get the man anything. He'd already tried to call, and became suspicious when this Larry didn't answer the door either. From this man's report, there are no signs of a break in, no weapons, and nothing seems to be missing."

"Suicide?" Elena suggested, confused by the lack of evidence. Rude shook his head, and Reno answered.

"Suicide looks like suicide. If it looked like suicide, our night guard buddy would have said so. He did say there were no weapons though, so if Larry here cut his own throat, he did it without a weapon," Reno pointed out quickly. Elena nodded, seeing the sense in this.

"Anyway, there's probably more to be found at the crime scene, so I'm sending Rude," Tseng was looking down at the papers on his desk, but was able to tell Reno was about to argue anyway, "You've been out all night, Reno. I don't care how perceptive you may be, it would be too easy for you to miss something now. Rude however has just had a full night's sleep."

Reno glared at Tseng, even though the man wasn't looking. Rude just shrugged.

"What am I supposed to do then?" Reno questioned, annoyed.

"Nothing," Tseng looked up now, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms, "Not until the higher-ups make a decision on our plan of action. We need both you and Elena to stay close though for whenever we need you, so don't leave the building. That's all." Tseng ended the mini-conference.

"Quick question," Reno said suddenly, "What the hell?"

"Reno, we can't make informed decisions on what the best deployment of our Turks is until the situation is analyzed. I'm just as eager to get things done as you are, but until they make some decisions, you have nothing to do. Since when do you complain about having no work?" Tseng sighed and rubbed his temples, frustrated at every turn by the redhead.

"Since no work comes with orders to stay in the boring-as-hell building," Reno replied instantly.

"Well, go sleep at your desk or something, I don't care, just don't leave and for goodness sake, Reno, don't pull any of your childish pranks."

Reno muttered what was probably colorful insults under his breath, but followed Rude and Elena out with no further comment.

Elena glanced from Reno to Rude subtly, still feeling awkward about the interesting argument earlier. She was able to piece together a theory based on several of the strange occurrences like that she had witnessed since first starting work as a Turk. There was that incident from her first day at the hospital with Reno when the doctor had mentioned something about 'history of addiction', if Elena remembered it correctly. She could recall several more odd, but related situations since. _Does Reno have a drug problem?_ It didn't seem likely to her. Yeah, Reno was weird sometimes, but that's just how he was. Being high and being Reno were two distinctly different things, although some of the symptoms were the same. _Maybe he's a recovering druggie._ She decided this was more likely, but wasn't about to ask anyone. Her immense curiosity about everything prevented her from simply dropping it without a certain answer, but Elena was tactful enough to know what not to bring up. She'd seen the way Reno reacted anytime it was brought up. She knew he didn't like to talk about it.

"Thanks," Elena handed the bottle of aspirin back to Reno. He glanced at her, but didn't take the bottle, appearing almost startled out of his thoughts by her voice. She popped the white pill into her mouth and swallowed it dry, hoping it would work quickly to relieve her headache.

"You don't have to drink anything?" Reno asked, grinning when she shook her head, "Ha, you're just as good at taking pills as I am." His grin faded quickly. "Probably not the best joke," he muttered, looking away. "Keep it," he said hurriedly, casting a quick glance at the bottle she still held out to him, "No, wait," he turned swiftly to pick up the small bottle and toss it over his shoulder without even looking. Elena watched it go in surprise until she saw Rude catch it. He'd been standing there watching them.

"You keep it since you're so worried about it," Reno said sarcastically, walking quickly into his office and shutting the door behind him louder than was strictly necessary. Rude looked like he wanted to say something, but sighed and shook his head instead.

"Here," Rude dropped the bottle in Elena's hands as he passed by her on his way to the elevators, "In case your headache lasts longer."

Elena stood alone in the hall, not sure of what to do. Slowly walking the few steps further to her office, Elena decided she would just mess around until Tseng told them what to do. She would have liked to spend time with Reno, but he seemed to be in a bad mood so she left him alone. She hadn't spent a lot of time in her office to date anyway, so she took the opportunity to poke around.

Just as she was reaching the conclusion that it was a thoroughly uninteresting office, Reno poked his head in, appearing to have recovered his usual cocky and lighthearted attitude.

"I got somethin' fun for us to do," he said, a twinkle in his eye that warned her this activity may not be strictly condoned, but she grinned anyway and quickly abandoned the boring room to follow the tall, skinny redhead.

"So what's this fun idea of yours?" Elena asked, falling into step beside him, but having to walk fast to keep up with his long strides.

"You'll see," he smiled mysteriously, slowing down so she could walk beside him easier, "But I will tell ya that I do it whenever I get the chance."

"Do you get in trouble?" she asked, eager for something entertaining, but more responsible than Reno. She was plenty of fun and had a good sense of humor but she didn't possess Reno's complete disregard for all rules and authority.

"Nah, it's one of those awesome things where, if ya do it just right, they can't do anythin' about it," he seemed to be getting more and more delighted about this activity as he talked. He came to a sudden stop in front of the doors to the huge gym area. Pausing dramatically, he looked at her with addictive excitement.

"Today, some of the new recruits for SOLDIER are training in here," he explained in a hushed voice, "They're real cocky little bastards. Think they're all that." Reno rolled his eyes, "Well, SOLDIER in general doesn't like the Turks. Sort of a sibling rivalry if you will. So I like to pay a little visit whenever they have these training sessions and put them in their place. Tseng knows, but he tends to look past whatever I do in there. His way of getting a jab at SOLDIER without really havin' to make himself look bad."

Elena was grinning to herself about how Reno, of all people, was complaining about someone else being cocky. _I guess he just won't take it from anyone else. _

"This is gonna be fun," he smirked evilly and pulled the door open, casually motioning for Elena to go first. The woman was a little surprised, not used to such gentlemanly acts coming from Reno, but she ducked her head slightly so he wouldn't see the smile she couldn't help from spreading across her face. She'd been having to hide little blushes and smiles all day because of the tiny flutters of her heart whenever Reno was around.

A group of about twenty young men, none older than herself, Elena was sure, were gathered around the sparring area, listening closely but with enough careless attitude that they didn't seem too intent. A first class member of SOLDIER was going through some of the basics of sparring. Overall, it was much like what Elena had imagined her training would be like. Hers had turned out to be very different however, and this group was about to experience some of that different-ness.

"You do know that none of ya will probably make it to first class," Reno commented casually, completely interrupting the man who was speaking. The interruption was made all the more abrupt because the speaker hadn't heard them approach and was startled by the sudden voices coming from very close behind him. His sudden stop and surprised turn caused the group of trainees to chuckle quietly.

"Don't listen to him, every single one of you has what it takes if you apply yourselves and do your best," the man glared at Reno, but continued addressing his group, attempting to get rid of the redhead by refusing to talk to him. Anyone who was remotely familiar with Reno knew that this would never work.

"Actually, he's right," Reno went on at once, "It doesn't take much to get to first class. Even you could probably do it. Well, on your best day." Reno pointed to one of the group, the one that appeared to be suffering from the greatest ego inflation. This particular student bristled at once, glaring daggers at the redhead, but turning a little red.

"Look would you just go away? We don't want you here," the speaker turned to face Reno threateningly. His anger was completely lost on the redhead whose smile just grew bigger.

"That's not what your mom said." Not waiting for a reaction, Reno continued speaking, "Anyway, I'm surprised by the level of ingratitude around here. Well not really, I always knew SOLDIER was a bunch of jerks. I was just comin' down to see if ya needed someone for the rookies to spar with."

"Completely unnecessary," the man said coldly, clearly enraged at this point.

"I'll take him," the student Reno had pointed out earlier replied. All eyes turned on him with surprise, except for Reno, who didn't even bother looking.

"Alright," he answered casually, "Do what ya can. Don't worry 'bout it though, no one expects ya to get in a hit." At this point the young man was sufficiently offended, obviously the type who took excessive pride in his fighting skills. Reno took a few lazy steps over, distancing himself from the group. The student followed, facing off at once. Elena watched him glaring at Reno the whole time and then suddenly lurch forward. She surprised herself by foreseeing his movement. She only had to see his first step or two and she knew what he was doing. This had never happened to her before and she smiled to herself, please with the result of her training with Reno and Rude. Anyway, she saw the student's move in advance, but hardly saw Reno's move when it happened. There was a sort of blur, and then the unfortunate man was on his face on the floor, Reno looking down on him with an idle smile, his hands in his pockets.

"Wanna try again?" Reno offered with mock kindness. The student picked himself up roughly, wincing slightly at the movement of his bruised ribs. Without a glance for Reno, he walked towards the group. He hadn't taken but a single step when he swung around quickly, a forceful kick aimed for the side of Reno's head. With a loud thwack, Reno caught the man's ankle in mid-air.

"Cute," he commented, his smirk triumphant, "But not good enough. For a Turk that is. Great move for SOLDIER, keep it up." The look of shock on the student's face was priceless, and the looks on the whole group's faces was even better. They hadn't seen the sudden kick coming, so both moves were a complete surprise to them. Some of them looked dismayed, some disbelieving, but all were clearly awestruck.

Elena watched Reno's performance, for that's really what it was, with bursting pride and a good deal of awe herself. She never ceased to marvel at his skill, even though she was becoming increasingly proficient as well. Watching Reno fight never got old to her. It had the chaotic randomness of a hurricane, with equal force, and yet the delicate movements and smoothness of the most carefully planned dance. It drew you in. All his movements possessed the same qualities to an extent, Elena reflected. It was simply most visible when he fought. She loved the way he moved. It was alluring and, especially at times like this when he completely crushed opponents with hardly no effort, Elena found she literally couldn't take her eyes off him.

Bouncing almost imperceptibly, Reno grinned as his defeated opponent took his place among his fellow students in sulky silence. Casting a glance at Elena, he winked, causing her to smile. It was a larger smile than it strictly should be, and was accompanied by a small blush. A more perceptive student called out, "Is that your girlfriend?" He pointed at Elena, who only blushed all the more and desperately tried to control it in alarm, not wanting to hide her face as a sure sign of 'guilt'. Reno saved her however, coming back with a quick answer.

"All you need to know about her is that she can kick your ass," he replied instantly, cleverly avoiding the question, and then expertly changing the subject, "Who's next?"

"We were discussing group fights," one of the students mentioned, attempting to work out some kind of advantage over the obnoxious Turk.

"Oh, great," Reno looked genuinely pleased, causing a few hearts to drop, "I'll take on as many of you that want to try."

"Look," the official member of SOLDIER interfered, knowing that his students would inevitably fail, "They're new here. They've only had a week of training."

"Good point," Reno thought about this for a moment, "How about I take on a group and promise not hit any of 'em?"

Even the teacher looked surprised at this, and slowly agreed.

"If any of you are interested," he addressed the group. Excited about the opportunity, about seven of them eagerly approached Reno, confident they would show this Turk what they could do. Elena began to frown a little, wondering how exactly Reno planned on pulling this off. She was sure he had something up his sleeve. At least she hoped so.

His hands still casually in his pockets, Reno stood slouched there, appearing lazy and about as likely to move as a lamp. The attacking students were thus inspired with false confidence, because Elena recognized he was standing almost exactly the same way as when she had sparred with him for the first time. _Throws you off completely. _

Quickly moving in as close to the same time as they could manage, the group of seven students all tried to hit Reno at once, but he evaded them easily without so much as brushing against a single one. Due to his sudden movements, they ended up hitting each other. Try as they might, no one could land a hit, and as careful as they were, they always ended up hitting each other. Before long one after the other started dropping out, having received one hit too many. When there was only one left, he just gave up, realizing he would never be able to hit Reno.

"You've got a long road ahead of ya," Reno said with fake sympathy, patting the first class SOLDIER in charge on the shoulder. Reno turned toward Elena, about to leave, when the teacher lashed out and grabbed the redhead's arm, preparing to flip him over his shoulder. Elena swore she saw Reno grin as his lightning fast reflexes kicked in. Before the SOLDIER had a chance to do more than grab his arm, Reno had flipped him over his shoulder and calmly placed a foot on his chest.

"Ya really screwed yourself there," he commented with a shrug, "How are they gonna respect you now?" Straightening up without another word, Reno strolled casually out of the room along with Elena. She had never seen a bigger smirk on his face.

"They set themselves up so bad," Reno started laughing as soon as they cleared the gym. Elena nodded in agreement, laughing as well.

When they reached their offices, Tseng at once appeared in the hall, beckoning them over. He looked stern enough, but it was obvious he was trying not to smile and there was a twinkle in his dark eyes.

"Reno, you shouldn't terrorize the poor SOLDIER recruits," Tseng stated calmly, but he didn't sound upset in the least.

"How did you know?" Elena was astounded. They had literally just come from there and he already knew what they, Reno really, had done.

"SOLDIER wastes no time in whining," Tseng replied, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth, "Anyway, consider yourselves reprimanded. Also, I have your assignment. You are both to continue guarding the Sector Three reactor. We expect an imminent attack," Tseng looked grim, "They will probably attempt to blow it up like the previous incident. Do whatever you can to prevent damage to the reactor. If things don't work out, neither of you are to be anywhere near that reactor when it blows. Understood?" Tseng looked more serious than Elena thought she had ever seen him.

"Worried we're gonna go up in flames?" Reno grinned, blowing off the legitimate concern like he always did.

"Am I clear?" Tseng repeated, more firmly.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," the redhead turned for his office to collect his weapons.

"And, Reno," the Turk leader mentioned, waiting for Reno to face him before continuing, "Good work." The smile on his face showed he was referring to the earlier incident with SOLDIER. Reno just grinned and nodded his thanks.

* * *

"Here we are," Reno spread his arms wide, looking up at the reactor, "I've spent more time here in the past week than I have at my apartment. Maybe I should call it home."

"Home isn't where you live, it's where the people you love are," Elena corrected automatically. Reno looked at her with an odd look on his face that looked almost pained.

"So where's home then?" he asked, not thinking about why, but just because the question came to his lips.

"You tell me," Elena responded, looking up at the massive building before them to avoid looking at Reno.

_You have no idea how badly I want to._ Reno looked down at her in silence, unable to say anything for fear that he would blurt out that he loved her and that couldn't happen, because then something awful would happen to her, he just knew it. So without a word, Reno led the way into the beast of a building.

* * *

"So this is what you've been doing the past nights?" Elena asked, walking beside him as they meandered through the empty, dark space.

"Yup," Reno answered, glancing around the place, which was no different than when he had left it that morning, "Super excitin'." The ridiculous amount of sarcasm in that one phrase made Elena laugh.

"It does have it's perks," Reno pointed out, "These catwalks are pretty fun." He tapped the small metal bridge structure they walked on.

"Really?" Elena looked a bit skeptical.

"Yeah, watch," the redhead grabbed a cable and swung himself up on the rail. Before Elena could react, he jumped off as he had been doing the previous night, landing smoothly on the one below. "See? It's really fun."

"What the hell, Reno?" she leaned over the rail, staring at him with wide, indignant eyes, "Don't scare me like that!" He just laughed lightly.

"It's fine. It's not as far as it looks. Wanna try?"

"No, I do not want to try!" Elena was still a little shaken from watching him jump off a several story high structure and it made her snappy.

"Alright, stay right there. I'll be up in a second," Reno turned and dashed off, still laughing to himself. Elena waited for him impatiently, the heavy silence that usually pervaded the place pushing down on her when the metallic clink of Reno's quick running steps faded as he navigated the maze of catwalks to get back to her.

Standing alone in the extremely dim light, Elena heard a tiny metallic ping and a whooshing noise. She frowned and glanced around, remaining absolutely silent and as still as possible while she tried to locate the origin of these noises. They seemed to come from the catwalk below, and she peered at it intently. A small movement was barely visible, more of a blur, passed beneath her. It moved with such speed, yet made significantly less noise than Reno, an incredible feat. It was gone in a second but it was enough to cause a chill to go down her spine. Hesitant on whether or not she should make a sound, her lips made the decision for her, almost involuntarily calling out softly.

"Reno?" she felt the darkness and silence so much more now, and it felt like it was pushing down on her.

"Yes?" a voice answered playfully from above her and Reno jumped down in front of her from the catwalk above. Whipping her head up in surprise, Elena couldn't help but utter a small shriek. Quickly clapping her hands over her mouth, she glared at the redhead.

"What is wrong with you, psycho?!" Elena whispered vehemently and punched him lightly on the chest, angry that he'd scared her like that when she was already scared.

"Why are you whispering?" Reno asked, smiling hugely, but whispering himself now.

"I…I think I saw something," she answered, looking up at him with a bit more fear in her eyes than she would have liked, "You were gone, and I heard a little noise and I think I saw something run past down there," she pointed to the catwalk below, whispering hurriedly, "It was really quiet, Reno. Much quieter than you, but it was there and it ran past, that way." She pointed again, watching his face quickly turn serious.

"Let's move," he whispered back, almost visibly switching to a higher level of alertness. He crept down the catwalk, attempting to keep their noise down. It was difficult because the metal bridges suspended in mid-air were not the best places to move without a sound. Elena stuck as close to him as she could without actually running into him. She did not want to be left alone again.

By the time they reached the ground, Elena was about ready to start twitching she was so nervous and scared. Reno was glancing around quickly, attempting to find something out of the ordinary for them to go on. There was more noise on the ground level since they were closer to the machines which emitted a sort of white noise. It made it more difficult for them to hear any intruders, but at least it would be more difficult for intruders to hear them as well.

Without any warning, Reno pressed a hand over Elena's mouth and pulled her backwards, into the darker shadows behind one of the machines in the already shadowy half-light of the room.

"No sound," he whispered, so quietly she hardly heard him, his lips less than an inch from her ear. Both of them frozen in silence in their concealing shadows, they watched a figure completely clad in black from what they could tell, move swiftly past them, making less noise than Elena thought possible. The figure paused near a machine nearby and began attaching some sort of device with speed. Reno silently shifted, moving his hand from her mouth and carefully putting himself in front of her, one arm still held behind himself and sort of wrapped around her protectively.

Oddly enough, although this person was so close, Elena wasn't afraid. All the fear she'd experienced before seemed to melt away as long as long as she was with Reno. She was tense and still had the adrenaline that comes with fear, but she wasn't scared. Reno was between her and whoever it was infiltrating the reactor: what was there for her to be afraid of?

The mysterious figure didn't seem to notice the movement and finished his work before moving on as quickly as before.

When there had been no sign of him for several minutes, Reno turned and pressed a finger to his lips, signaling for silence still. He started to slip away, motioning for her to stay in the shadows, when he turned back.

"Not leaving you alone," he put his lips close to her ear again to whisper, taking her hand in his firmly and leading her silently over to the device the intruder had planted. Reno only had to glance over it for a second to confirm what it was.

"Bomb," he mouthed. Shaking out his long, thin fingers, Reno ran them over the explosive carefully, trying to decide the best and quickest way to disarm it. Luckily he didn't lack sight even in the darkness, thanks to mako-enhanced vision. Delicate fingers moving swiftly but with precision, Reno had the bomb successfully in barely thirty seconds. Elena watched closely, all her attention focused on the bomb, breathing a sigh of relief when Reno was done.

"There," Reno was turning to face her when she saw his eyes flicker to the side and go wide, all in the fraction of a second before he ducked, narrowly missing getting kicked in the head hard enough to knock him out. Elena let out a small cry of surprise, having not even seen this person approach. The attacker hesitated long enough for Reno to strike back. The redhead's lightning response time came in handy yet again as he was able to land a good hit with his EMR, charged with enough electricity to fry a much larger person. Without much sound, the man hit the floor.

Reno turned to say something to Elena, when three more black-clad figures showed up from different directions, not wasting a second to take in the scene but attacking the two Turks instantly.

"Dammit," Reno cursed, pushing Elena behind him and went at their attackers. Elena watched, eyes huge, as the fastest paced fight she had ever seen in her life played out in front of her. She'd always marveled at Reno's speed and grace, but these mysterious attackers were keeping up better than any opponent of his she'd yet seen. She desperately wanted to help, but feared she would do not good. She was completely unable to keep up with the fight before her, especially since it took place in almost darkness. She could only distinguish Reno from the others by the flying blood red hair which whipped around as he moved sharply, fending off attacks from all sides.

Neither side seemed to be gaining an advantage, and Elena began to worry. Reno was outnumbered. She knew she couldn't keep up in actual hand-to-hand combat, but her mind flickered to the gun in her pocket. _But I can hardly make out separate people! I'd hit Reno as easily as one of them. And they all move so fast._ A slight sizzling sound alerted her that Reno had gotten another one, evening out the sides a little. Elena was about to get dizzy watching the constant whirl of kicks and punches and delicate dodging spin before her eyes.

At this point one of the attackers broke away and apparently decided to go for the other Turk. Elena didn't even have time to register what was happening before a gunshot rang out. Reno had stopped his constant whirlwind of movement for a split second to fire a single shot that hit the man about to attack her right in the head. Waiting only long enough to watch his target hit the ground, Reno jerked his attention back to his own attacker, just in time to get punched in the face. Reeling from the strong, direct hit, Reno staggered back for a second before quickly regaining his focus and avoiding a second hit.

Simultaneously, the last attacker bolted of with almost impossible speed and a quiet but sharp beep drew their attention to the device still attacked to the machine.

"Shit, shit, shit," Reno was breathing heavily but still managed to curse loudly, dashing to the device. The bomb was definitely deactivated, but the attached timer was still running, showing less than ten seconds on the glowing digital screen.

"What?" Elena said, although she knew very well what was happening. The mako reactor was about to blow up, and they were still inside with no time to escape.

_Author's Note: How's that for suspense? =P See you next week! lol, Yes, I am going to make you wait until next week. Hey, it's a lot better than some people. I update more frequently than most I think. I've been waiting for months on an update on this one story and it's not coming. =( Actually on several.....NARIL WHERE IS YOUR UPDATE?!?!?!?! You need to write, my friend. =) I miss your stories. Anyway...there are several other stories I'm waiting on, but we all are so I'm not going to waste everyone's time talking about that. =P Alright, please please please please leave a reivew. Thank you. =) It's the giving season, so feel free to give me a review. xD You guys rock, thanks for reading!!! _


	18. Chapter 18

_Author's Note: Ok, I'm going to be as brief as possible because my internet has been screwing up and everything has been going wrong so I want to get this done before it messes up. =P That brings me to my first point. I'm SO SORRY for not updating last night. My internet was down. =( But it's back now!!!! Secondly, I altered some of the stuff from the end of the last update, so I reposted a little of it. xD Sorry for any confusion. Um....I'll update on Christmas, even though it's Christmas. xD I wanted to do a special Christmas chapter so I might do that...or something. I actually will probably do a seperate little Christmas one shot, so if you haven't subscribed to author alert, I suggest you do it so you can get it next week. =) That said, read, review, repeat. xD _

Simultaneously, the last attacker bolted of with almost impossible speed and a quiet but sharp beep drew their attention to the device still attacked to the machine.

"Shit, shit, shit," Reno was breathing heavily but still managed to curse loudly, dashing to the device. The bomb was definitely deactivated, but the attached timer was still running, showing less than ten seconds on the glowing digital screen.

"What's wrong?" Elena said, "You deactivated it."

"Not the only bomb," Reno used as few words as possible, speaking fast. Reno stood perfectly still, a look on his face Elena had never seen before. It wasn't fear, or horror, the expressions probably spread across her face at that moment, but simply a lost look. He didn't know what to do. The mako reactor was about to blow up, and they were still inside with no time to escape. As the timer counted down the last three seconds, Reno turned to look at her and made a decision. The timer blinked at zero and Reno ran the step or two to reach Elena, purposefully colliding with her and knocking them both to the ground. His arms wrapped around her securely, holding her head against his chest where she could feel his heart beating so quickly it sounded like one constant thrum.

A sound louder than anything she had ever heard tore through the air. It was like a ferocious roar combined with a rush of air and a sonic boom. Scared out of her mind, Elena clung to Reno, sure they were both going to die as an intense wave of heat rolled over them. Barely a second had passed, when Elena began to realize she was not dead yet. The initial noise had subsided, replaced with a quieter more steady roar, the type that accompanied fires. Various crashes and the screeching of ripping metal could be heard.

"Damn," Reno's voice had never sounded better to her, even though it brought new concern because it was accompanied by a powerful shake throughout his whole body. Although the impact of whatever hit him was forceful enough to push their combined weight several feet across the floor, Reno didn't even loosen his protective hold on her.

He didn't move for a few more seconds, once it was clear they weren't imminently dying. Slowly and carefully moving away, Reno glanced around, quickly taking in their situation while grimacing slightly and holding his right side.

"They spaced the explosives strategically. We handled this one so no blast was close enough to hurt us," Reno explained their survival in a hurry, getting to his feet unsteadily and helping Elena up as well. She was a little dazed, ears ringing from the incredibly loud explosion. They were not safe yet. A massive fire now raged, lighting up the entire space with an eerie, moving, orange glow. The place was in ruins, the majority of the machines destroyed. It was already unbearably warm and heating up quickly.

"Let's get out of here," Reno held her hand to keep her close, still wincing and seeming to wheeze slightly. Just then his phone rang, and oddly enough, he answered it from force of habit. "Hey."

"Reno! Thank God," Tseng's voice sounded both urgent and relieved, "Where are you? Where is Elena? Are you both ok?"

"Yeah, hey," Reno sounded a little out of it, probably a mild form of shock from the explosion, "We're fine. Just trying to get out of this reactor right now."

"You're in there?!" Tseng was horrified, "Get the hell out, Reno, right now!"

"Trying. Can I call you back?" the redhead asked, sarcasm returning to his voice, a reassuring sign for anyone who knew him.

"Yes, sorry," Tseng's voice was reluctant to go, "Call me as soon as you can. That's an order, Reno. If it's the only order of mine you listen to, call me whenever you are safe."

"Ok," Reno hung up, shoving the phone in his pocket.

It was a difficult process, but Reno was able to navigate them both safely out of the burning reactor. It took less than ten minutes, but felt like just as many days. When they finally stumbled to a safe distance, coughing from smoke, Reno fell heavily against a wall breathing the fresh air heavily. Elena did much the same thing, only she opted to all out sit on the ground.

"You saved my life," she said after a moment.

"What?" Reno opened his eyes and looked down at her.

"If it hadn't been for you, I would have been standing there open for anything to hit me when it blew. You saved my life," she explained, dead serious.

"Oh, yeah, that too," Reno grinned, although clearly in slight pain, "I really just wanted to jump on ya."

Elena blinked and then laughed, shaking her head. He always made her laugh. And blush.

"Are you ok?" she herself was shaken up, but she was sure she didn't have any real injuries other than a few scratches maybe. Reno however had been holding his side since the explosion and seemed to be hurting with every breath.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he answered, sinking slowly to sit beside her, "Somethin' hit me though, pretty hard. I think it'll just bruise but it still hurts like hell and knocked the breath outta me a bit."

"Would you like me to call Tseng?" Elena was comforted to know he wasn't seriously injured, but didn't want him to have to speak more than was necessary. Reno nodded, handing her his phone. She quickly dialed Tseng's number and only had to wait a split second before the man anxiously picked up.

"Hello? Reno?"

"This is Elena," she answered, "We're out of the reactor and we're both fine. Well, something hit Reno but I think he's ok."

"Alright, stay exactly where you are unless it becomes dangerous," Tseng commanded, "Rude and I will be there in a minute."

"How do you know where we are?"

"GPS in the phone," Tseng explained in a few words.

"Oh. See you soon."

Tseng didn't answer, he just hung up. Putting Reno's phone back into his pocket, Elena glanced at where his hand rested over his ribs. There was no blood on his white shirt so she assumed he was ok.

True to his word, Tseng and Rude were there within minutes.

"I'm going to ask you once and you are going to answer honestly," Tseng crouched on the ground to be on eye level with Reno who was still collapsed against the wall. He stared the redhead in the eye sternly, "Are you ok, or do you need medical attention?"

"Reno has a problem with lying about the severity or even existence of his injuries," Rude explained to Elena Tseng's peculiar behavior.

"I'm fine," Reno answered, moving his hand so all could see there was no blood, "It will bruise, but that's all." Tseng didn't reply. Instead he carefully pushed on Reno's ribs, causing Reno to wince and make a slight, pained hissing noise.

"Ok, no broken bones," Tseng announced a moment later, turning to Elena, "You're alright?" She nodded. "I'm sure there is excellent information to be had regarding this evening, but it can wait until we're back in my office," Tseng straightened up and offered a hand to help Reno off the ground. Reno ignored the assistance and pushed himself up. Rude helped Elena up and they all made their way back to the car Tseng and Rude had come in. They managed to get out of the area just as it was becoming truly chaotic with emergency vehicles and shouting people.

* * *

"And then the last one ran off, just before the place blew," Reno finished his story from the comfort of one of the plush chairs in Tseng's office. He'd taken off his jacket, which was covered in soot anyway. His light frame was even more noticeable with out the slightly baggy jacket to cover his bony shoulders. The long-sleeve white shirt was messy, the top buttons un-done as usual. He held a small bag of ice over his side, shifting it now and then to numb the whole area that had been hit.

"Hmm," Tseng didn't reply with much. He sat at his desk, leaning forward on his clasped hands with a thoughtful frown on his face, taking in the events Reno had just described. Not particularly interested in what Tseng had to say about it all, the redhead took another gulp of water from the bottle Rude had gotten him. Elena had already finished hers, not held up by story-telling. Breathing such thick smoke, even for only a few minutes, was hard on the throat.

"Does that rule out AVALANCHE?" Tseng mused out loud, not really asking, but getting an answer anyway.

"Yup," Reno spoke matter-of-factly, "AVALANCHE doesn't like to work with anyone else. If they were involved, it would have been their group there. I dunno who they were, but it wasn't AVALANCHE. I think they were ninjas. Like, from Wutai."

"Yuffie is both a ninja and from Wutai," Rude pointed out calmly.

"Yeah, but if our sweet little princess had been there," Reno said sarcastically, "I woulda known. Also I woulda been robbed blind."

Rude nodded, acknowledging the truth of this statement.

"Whoever we're up against," Reno continued, "They're fast little bastards."

"Faster than you?" Tseng left his thoughts for a moment to ask, looking surprised.

"Probably. Hard to tell."

"Well that will make everything more complicated," Tseng looked annoyed, still deep in thought, "Say it was Wutian ninjas. Why? That war has been over."

"They're targeting the mako reactors. Just another one of these save-the-planet crazed groups," Elena suggested, feeling like she ought to offer some input. She'd been feeling more than a little useless lately and was determined to start helping.

"Possible, and extremely likely," Tseng noted, nodding slowly, "We still have no way to track them." Tseng looked quite stressed about this. With barely anything to go on, how were they supposed to track down and neutralize this threat?

"Somebody get me a cigarette and we'll figure this out. I need to relax," Reno demanded, glancing down at his side with a small wince. He was trying to move as little as possible so as not to disturb the bruised area.

"Inside? I don't think so," Tseng replied, slight scorn in his voice, "They're bad enough for you outside. There's no need to make it worse by smoking them in confined spaces."

"I do it in my office all the time," Reno blew off Tseng's concerns with an impatient wave of the hand.

"Well you need to stop," the Turk leader came back with, not to be blown off that easily, "It's bad for you."

"How the hell else do you suggest I calm down?" Reno retaliated, getting annoyed now.

"I don't know, Reno," Tseng seemed exasperated, "Try sitting still for a few minutes maybe. You realize normal people can feel good without 'help' from things like cigarettes and alcohol?"

Reno didn't reply, instead he glared at Tseng. The silence lasted for a few very awkward moments.

"I take it I'm not getting a cigarette?"

"No, you're not," Tseng's voice was firm and clearly ended the conversation.

"Alright then," Reno gave in to the forceful demand, but not without heavy sarcasm in his voice. Careful to keep the ice pressed against his side, Reno got up, a bit slowly and carefully but cringing anyway, and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Tseng asked.

"To my office, dammit," Reno snapped, "Do I have to report to ya on every freakin' thing I do?" With a final muttered "dammit", Reno was gone down the hall. The remaining Turks looked at each other with mixed emotions. Between them there was a jumble of concern, annoyance, almost anger, and a completely shared feeling of tiredness.

"I'll go check on him," Elena offered quietly, getting out of her chair before she even noticed that Rude was about to do the same thing. She left the room after the upset redhead so swiftly she missed the significant look that passed between the other two, accompanied by slight smiles on both sides.

"You ok?" Elena asked hesitantly, slipping into Reno's office to find him leaned back in his chair, eyes closed with a scowl on his face.

"Yes, I'm fine," he muttered, surprisingly less harsh than she was expecting. It surprised him a little too, and he didn't doubt that if it had been Rude or Tseng asking he would have been yelling at them by now. But Elena…Elena was different. He didn't mind her checking up on him. In fact, he suspected he enjoyed her concern.

"Does it hurt?" she asked, settling herself in an oddly placed chair that put her closer to him than if she had been on the other side of the desk. She was not displeased with this situation.

"Sort of throbs," Reno opened his eyes to answer her, the frown on his face fading to more of a simply tired expression, "But it doesn't sting. Hurts to breath very deep."

She had noticed he was keeping his breaths fairly shallow. She was almost ashamed to admit to herself that she watched him so closely she was able to tell when his breathing was different.

"Can I see it?" she asked, concerned that it might be more serious than he was letting on. After all, they had no idea what had hit him.

"Are you asking me to take my shirt off?" Reno teased, grinning but honestly curious. Elena blinked, blushed, and stammered pointlessly, unable to look at him directly now. _Damn, she's cute._

"Well, not all the way," Elena stumbled over the words, attempting to defend her poorly thought out request. It was doing nothing to make the situation less awkward.

"Oh, do you have some kind of problem with me taking off my whole shirt?" Reno continued, unable to resist messing with her.

"No," Elena automatically answered quickly, completely destroying any chance of saving the moment, "Wait, yes…but no. Shit, Reno, why are you doing this to me?" She was horrifically embarrassed and blushing like mad but was still able to get annoyed with him. She knew he was baiting her.

"Because it's fun," he laughed, proceeding to undo the buttons and slipping his right arm half way out of the sleeve so his bruised side was visible, "See, I don't think it's anything worse than a bruise. There are no cuts and Tseng already checked for broken bones. You can check again though if ya want to feel me up."

"Good Heavens, Reno, you really are perverted, aren't you," Elena glanced briefly over the large bruise that had already formed.

"Hey, I'm not the one askin' for people to take their shirts off."

Elena didn't reply but she did notice he laughed harder as her blush deepened. _Awesome, so he does notice._

"Quit laughing," she reprimanded, seeing how his side moved when he laughed, "You're hurting yourself." Listening to her, Reno tried to stop laughing. It really did hurt a good bit, but he couldn't help it. The bruise looked awful. It was such a big spot that was a deep and patchy shade of blue, nearing purple in places.

"Are ya still lookin', or can I put my shirt back on?" Reno asked, holding in the laughter.

"I'm done," Elena muttered, backing up.

"Are ya sure, because you may not get another chance like this for awhile."

"Yes, just put your shirt back on!" Elena was very uncomfortable right now, and Reno wasn't helping. He was greatly amused however, still chuckling although he was clearly in pain.

"I got to go tell Tseng how we're gonna do this," Reno said, getting up carefully. He took his time here, not really concerned with how much care he took over his injuries in front of Elena.

"You have a plan?" she questioned, eager for a change of topic.

"Yup, but I just have to convince him."

Reno looked to be in a good amount of pain. It was just a bruise, but it was a bad one and in such a spot that almost every action, even those as simple as breathing, were rendered painful.

"Do you want me to get some painkillers or something?" Elena asked as they walked the short space backed to Tseng's office.

"Nope," Reno answered quickly and with a strange tone in his voice.

"It would make it a lot easier to move and breathe and stuff," she tried to convince him, confused as to why he was refusing.

"Don't want any," his voice was almost sharp.

"Are you sure? Just like an Ibuprofen or something?" Elena didn't like seeing him in pain and it was even harder to let it go when she had no idea why he wouldn't take any painkillers.

"Elena," Reno stopped walking suddenly and turned to face her, the movement so unexpected she almost ran in to him. The first thing she noticed was that he used her real name. The second was how close he was to her now, and not backing up. The third was the odd look in his eyes, almost pleading, as if trying to tell her something that he himself could not. "I understand you're trying to help, but I would not like to take any painkillers." His aquamarine eyes were deep and searched hers constantly for some sign of understanding. She got distracted from answering for a moment, even more confused by the pained look she was detecting now. The pleading was still there, and the pain didn't seem physical, but sort of mental. She wasted a moment being amazed at what tiny differences could be seen through the eyes before it hit her. Based on the random bits of 'evidence' she'd gathered since starting here, she had a theory that Reno was a recovering drug addict and here she was trying to push painkillers on him.

She felt awful at once, but before she could say anything, Reno picked up on the sudden understanding in her face.

"See?" he said quietly, the pleading gone but the pain only beginning to fade, "It's alright, let's go." Lingering close to her a moment longer, the redhead turned and went on to Tseng's office. Elena followed, quietly processing this new information, along with the confirmation of her theory.

"We've got to go to Wutai," Reno announced bluntly, seating himself back in the chair he'd left about ten minutes before, "There are no ninjas around here. They came from somewhere, and that somewhere is Wutai. I need to go there to figure this out."

"But the reactors," Tseng argued, "We can't just leave."

"Right because a hell of a lotta good it did to have us present," Reno answered, sarcasm pervading every word, "Look, we don't all have to go," he turned serious again, trying to make his point, "I could go and you guys would still be here to look after things close to home."

"I see," Tseng settled back in his chair and crossed his arms thoughtfully, thinking over this suggestion.

"There's not much more to be learned in Midgar, and I'm bored stiff of sittin' around in mako reactors waitin' to get blown up. It's time we did somethin' about this, and it will be easier to get a lead on these people if we get closer to where they came from."

"Alright," Tseng agreed suddenly, seeing the truth in Reno's words, "But you're not going alone. I'd go, but with such disturbances happening close to home I believe it's best for me to stay near the President. Rude could go…" Tseng thought this over, "But we need someone here for missions. I'm not sending Elena alone on anything."

"Well, I guess that leaves me," Elena pointed out, not minding. She was excited to go to Wutai. It sounded thrilling. Just like what she'd imagined being a Turk would be. Going off to foreign places and tracking down terrorists. It helped that she'd be doing it with Reno.

"Are you ok with going?" Tseng asked, although it was mere formality. Orders were orders.

"Perfectly fine with it," Elena nodded.

"Alright then," Tseng sounded pleased, "I'll do a bit of looking into it and make the necessary arrangements. I'd advise you to pack your bags and be ready to go at a moment's notice."

"Awesome," Reno got up, secretly glad Elena was going with him, but trying to look casual about it. He felt a lot better keeping her close to him. It was hard to trust other people with the protection of things precious to you. Even though it could become more dangerous there than at home, he was confident he could protect her.

"Well, it's been a long day and it's quite late," Tseng continued in his brisk, authoritive tone, "I suggest you all go home and get some rest. Tomorrow will likely be very busy. Reno, keep ice on that and let someone know if it turns into anything serious."

"It's a bruise, Tseng," Reno frowned a little but he was grinning, "It's not gonna turn into anything serious."

"You would assume that wouldn't you," Tseng replied, "And normally I'd agree. But this is you we're talking about. Complications are attracted to you like magnets."

Reno rolled his eyes without another word but Rude nodded his head in agreement.

"I'll take ya home," Reno said to Elena. It was more of a command than a request, but Elena didn't mind. She felt more comfortable being walked home anyway and she didn't want to have to ask.

"Crazy day," Reno commented casually when they were almost to her apartment. They'd walked most of the way in silence, moving slower than normal since Reno wasn't interested in causing extra pain to his side. Elena didn't mind, it was a nice night, by Midgar's standards. It didn't feel awkward to be silent with Reno either. She was happy to just be with him.

"Yeah," she answered, smiling, "That's putting it lightly."

"Oh, come on," he replied, with fake carelessness, "We only got almost blown up. Happens all the time." He grinned, appreciating his own humor.

Elena laughed, digging in her pocket for her key. Once she had the door unlocked and partially opened, she turned to Reno.

"Thanks," she said, smiling up at him.

"Anytime," Reno said. It occurred to him suddenly that if they were on a date this is when he would kiss her. Catching him unawares, the desire to take her carefully in his arms and kiss her like she'd never been kissed before almost got the best of him. "Alright, bye," he said hurriedly instead, grinning almost nervously as he turned and practically ran off.

Elena looked after him, a little confused as he left so quickly. Shrugging it off, she went in, just wanting a hot shower and several hours of sleep.

_Author's Note:_ _So, no awful cliffhanger today. =) I know how disappointed you all are. xD Well anyway, I'm going to run before the internet cuts out, I hope you enjoyed this update!!!! Please LEAVE ME A REVIEW!!! It's the season of giving. I give you update, you give me review. By the way, I decoarted gingerbread men today and it did not occur to me to make a Reno until I was done. =( Never fear!!!! I will next year. =) YOU ROCK AWESOME PEOPLE!!!_


	19. Chapter 19

_Author's Note: Happy New Year! I have a good feeling about this one. =) I'm sorry I didn't update yesterday, but my internet was being retarded again. I really need to have that fixed. =P But I'm here now, although I almost forgot! And here is a nice, long update for you guys. We're acutally nearing the end sort of here. I know that because I have an idea for a new story. =) I always get a new idea when I'm getting near the end of my current one. And such a long story this has been! I think it's about 115 pages total and I have no idea how many words right now! I don't go by fanfiction's count because that includes these author's notes. Not accurate. Anyway, don't worry, there's a LOT that has to happen before the end comes. I'm really excited about this story and in all honesty I wouldn't be surprised if I got close to 200 pages before I finished with it. So I guess I can't really say I'm almost done then....whatever. It never plays out like you think though anyway. Just rest easy knowing a ton of awesome stuff happens before this is done, and I have a whole new story brewing in my head. =P So without further ado, I give you an update!!! Enjoy!_

"Good morning, Elena," Tseng greeted her in the hall the next morning, handing her a fat file, sealed securely, "I hope you slept well because I have arranged your trip with Reno to Wutai and you shall both be leaving within a couple of hours."

"Great," she took the packet excitedly, "What do I need to do?"

"Go home, change into civilian clothes, pack, bring this file to Reno, and then come back here," Tseng came back with an answer readily.

"Why don't I just bring this to his office now?" Elena looked at the file, confused.

"He's not here. I called Reno last night and told him to sleep in," Tseng explained, "I'm not even sure how long he'd been awake by then. He's been working most nights lately. I'll write his address down for you. It shouldn't take him more than a few minutes to get ready and then you both can come back here together to leave."

"Ok," Elena answered, still having a lot of questions, but assuming most of them would be answered soon, "I'll head off then."

Tseng nodded, smiled, and continued off down the hall.

* * *

About an hour later, Elena was navigating her way through the streets, following the crude directions Tseng had written out for her. She was dressed in normal jeans and a cute blue top, the kind of thing she'd normally wear if not for her Turk uniform. Her small bag was thrown over her shoulder, slapping gently against her hip as she walked.

"Really?" Elena looked disbelievingly at the buildings around her. According to Tseng's directions she was practically there. Unless a random neat, new building was hiding around the corner, Reno had chosen to live in a much smaller, less attractive place than Rude and Elena did. Elena did not even begin to consider the redhead's reasoning behind this. Most of the time it was easier to just accept what he did, and his decisions, than figure out why.

"Alright, here we are," Elena found the right building, just as slightly rundown as the others. They places around here were all fairly small, a bit dingy, but not all out trashy at least. She was about to knock when a sound reached her ears and stopped her hand. Piano music, quiet from where she was but still more expressive than anything she had ever heard floated out to her. She didn't recognize the melody that had instantly captivated her. She felt frozen, like she couldn't have moved even if she wanted to. The music was too precious to risk obliterating but a movement. Not a second of it was to be wasted. As it went on, Elena's attention was focused entirely on her ears, taking in every note, every beat of the delightful sound. It was delicate, as soft and careless as the accidental brushing up against something, but had an incredible force and power behind it which almost commanded one to listen, if one was not already seduced by the beauty of it.

Elena didn't ever want it to end. She could have stood there forever, imperfectly hearing the intoxicating music. Sadly, it began to die off slowly, gently and with ease, eventually slipping into silence so smoothly one would hardly have noticed except for the empty feeling it left you with when it was gone. A moment or two of silence passed before Elena came back to reality. Quickly recollecting herself, and hoping no one had noticed her just standing there for minutes, or days, she wasn't sure how long, Elena reached up and knocked. _That was…Reno?_ She knew he could play the piano, but still it was heard to understand such a sound had come from human means and not angelic.

"Hey," Reno opened the door, looking a little surprised but grinning at her, "What's up?."

"Was that you?" Elena asked, walking through the door he held open for her and ignoring everything else he said.

"Was that me where?" Reno looked confused as he kicked the door closed behind him.

"That music," Elena went on, trying not to seem too urgent, "The piano. I heard it just now."

"Oh, yeah," Reno grinned a little, pointing into the other room where a shiny black grand piano stood in contrast with the general dullness of the rest of the place, "That was me."

"It was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard," Elena didn't bother concealing her admiration, "What was it?"

"Uh, just…a thing," Reno scratched the back of his head and stared at the piano, "It doesn't really have a name."

"Wait, you made it up?"

"Yeah," Reno answered, glancing back at her with a small grin on his face, "You like it?"

"It's the most amazing thing I've ever heard," she answered truthfully, astounded, "I love it."

"Cool," he shifted, appearing almost uncomfortable, but at the same time clearly enjoying her praise.

"So, I'm supposed to give this to you," Elena pulled the file out of her bag and handed it to him, "And you're suppose to pack and then we've got to go back and leave."

"Oh, so Tseng's got everything worked out then?" Reno asked, taking the file and ripping it open along a neat line at the top.

"I guess so. He could probably take up a job at a travel agency if the whole Turk thing ever quit working for him."

"If the Turk thing ever quit working for him," Reno laughed slightly, flipping briefly through the papers, "It would mean he was dead." The morbidity of his sentence seemed lost on him, either that or he was just ignoring it. Reno paused at one of the papers, a tiny frown forming on his face, quickly followed by a smirk. "One hotel room."

"What?" Elena asked, certain she had heard him wrong.

"Tseng's booked only one hotel room," Reno showed her the paper and pointed, "He's written in a note about it…" Tseng's neat handwriting filled a space on the margin of the page. It explained that it was essential to their cover. No one would be concerned about a vacationing couple. It was for their safety, he assured them. Of course, there was a strict admonishment for Reno to 'behave'.

"He thinks so highly of me," Reno said sarcastically, the smirk on his face only growing as Elena continued to stare at the paper in disbelief.

"Is he serious about this?" she almost squeaked, eyes wide and face turning pink.

"Yeah, but it's fine," Reno wouldn't let her suffer through this discomfort, as entertaining as it was, "There's always a couch or somethin'. Tseng knows that."

"Alright," Elena was relieved, although she felt a little silly for even worrying about in the first place. _Of course Tseng had a plan. He wouldn't do that. _However, now she had a whole new image in her head to make her even more uncomfortable around Reno.

"I'm gonna go grab some stuff," Reno said, handing her the papers and walking off deeper into his apartment, "I'll be back in a second. Ya can sit down if ya want."

"Thanks," she took a chance to glance around the place. It was just as plain on the inside as it was outside, but it was made interesting to her because it was where Reno lived. She appeared to be in the living room area, furnished haphazardly. A large, flat-screen TV rested against one wall, faced by a black couch that looked incredibly comfortable. The shiny piano stood all by itself in a corner, looking far too regal for it's home. She noticed that not a single thing was left laying around on the piano, although random objects were thrown everywhere else. She found it funny, but believable how musical he appeared to be.

The apartment as a whole was not as messy as she had expected. True, a couple empty beer bottles stood on a low table near the couch, accompanied by a similarly empty bowl. A crumpled white shirt, probably from work, was tossed over the back of the sofa. Elena smiled to herself, looking around Reno's apartment.

"Ok," Reno came back into the room, tossing a small black bag over his shoulder and glancing around to see if there was anything that required his attention before he left, "Good, let's go."

* * *

"Vacationing couple?" Reno walked right into Tseng's office, throwing his bag in a chair and roughly sitting down in another. Elena followed quietly, feeling awkward as soon as he brought up their interesting situation.

"Yes, Reno," Tseng looked up from his work, not surprised by Reno's unannounced entrances anymore, "Would you prefer we put her off in some corner of the hotel in a separate room, where you couldn't hear if she screamed?"

"Well, that's being overly dramatic," Reno crossed his arms and frowned, trying to get out of having to say in front of them both that he would in face like Elena close to him, "You could have done adjoining rooms or something."

"No, I could not have," Tseng argued, "There were no two rooms available close to each other, so I improvised. Why are you complaining, Reno?" Tseng began to look devious, especially noticeable because Tseng was never devious.

"Shut up," the redhead mumbled angrily, glaring ferociously at a plant in the corner.

"I know I may not have proved it," Elena interjected quietly, "But I don't need to be babysat. I can take care of myself. I guess you could say I've learned my lesson."

"I trust you are capable of handling yourself well should the need arise," Tseng answered her at once, his calm and smooth voice changing quickly from the stricter tone he used with Reno, "But we are going up against an enemy we are completely unfamiliar with. From what we have seen, they are incredibly stealthy and fast. We don't know what the full extent of their capabilities, and I won't risk anything happening because Reno isn't mature enough to handle being in the same room as a woman overnight without molesting her." Tseng ended with a forceful look at Reno.

"Why are you assuming I'm going to do something to her?" Reno defended, sounding accused, "For all we know, she might jump me. I wouldn't blame her." He smirked, entertaining himself with his conceited jokes. Elena stared at the floor with slightly wide eyes. She couldn't remember a time in her life before working with the Turks when she'd had to put up with so much embarrassment.

"Alright then, you promise to behave?" Tseng demanded, turning his attention to the redhead.

"Of course," Reno looked offended that they even had to ask, "So what are our exact orders? Just so I know what to report about. I'm gonna do whatever the hell I think is needed anyway."

"Couldn't you at least keep that to yourself?" Tseng pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, "Most people don't advertise the fact that they're going to completely disregard important instruction."

"Since when has anyone assumed I was like most people?" Reno shot back, pleased with bothering Tseng after all the comments the Turk leader had made over the morning.

"Excellent point," the man said sarcastically, "Your orders are to do your absolute best to discover who is behind these attacks. You are to operate undercover. Do not let anyone know who you are, or what you are doing. Do not get involved in any fights. You go, gather info, you come back. It's so simple, you can't possibly mess it up," Tseng glanced at the redhead for a moment, "Well _you_ could probably mess it up."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. Means a lot to me," Reno smiled, "Now how are we gettin' there?"

"Rude will fly you as close as he can while avoiding detection. You'll have to walk the rest of the way. Shouldn't be far. Wutai has many areas that are mostly undeveloped and perfect for secretly landing a helicopter. He should be on the roof waiting for you now. Get moving. Try and keep in contact. We'll need to know how you both are doing. Good luck."

"See ya," Reno mock saluted and grabbed his bag, checking to make sure Elena was following before he walked out the door.

"How is it?" Elena asked as they waited for the elevator to arrive on the roof. She pointed to his side, where he had the awful bruise.

"Huh?" Reno looked at her, mildly startled out of his thoughts, "Oh, it's uh, fine, I guess." He pushed on it gently with the palm of his hand, a hardly visible twitch in his facial muscles the only sign he felt anything from it. "It still hurts and it's still purple and blue."

"Are you going to be ok?" she asked, trying not to sound concerned although she was, probably more than was necessary.

"Yes, 'Laney. No need to worry, this bruise will not kill me," he gave her a look about as sarcastic as the tone of his voice, but there was a grin on his face.

When they arrived on the roof, the blades of the helicopter were just beginning to whir, picking up speed quickly. Rude was waiting for them inside the black machine. Elena watched Reno's blood-red ponytail flick through the air, whipped up by the wind created by the helicopter. He looked different when he wasn't dressed as a Turk. Plain old jeans and a black t-shirt made him look almost normal. Reno could never really look like any old person. Not with flaming red hair, unnaturally bright aquamarine eyes with two identical red tattoos under them. No, Reno was completely unique. Elena smiled. She loved him that way. _I love him just the way he is._ It made her feel good to say that on the inside. She wondered how much better it would feel to say it out loud. She quickly focused her attention back on the present moment, afraid to let her thoughts go there because she was afraid. Afraid because he might not care for her back and afraid because she knew she needed to tell him.

Before long, the three Turks were underway to Wutai. Elena was excited. She'd never been there before and she loved going to new places. The whole city of Midgar, in all it's gray glory, was spread out beneath them. She kept her face as close to the glass as she could, trying to pick out and identify the different sectors. From where he sat across from her, Reno watched out the window as well, although rather absentmindedly.

The expanse of city below them suddenly changed from the crowded and cramped streets to something very different, something that made the previous dingy view beautiful in comparison.

"Sector Seven," Elena said quietly, not even intending to say it out loud. The split second the words were out of her mouth, Reno tensed up and looked the other way. Casting him a worried glance, Elena tried to get a look at his face. Reno was too good at hiding things from people though, and she eventually took her gaze back to the remains of the unfortunate sector. Rude had noticed Reno's reaction as well and was subtly guiding their helicopter in such a way that the view would be hidden. Elena was able to take in the whole of the destruction before it was lost from sight however. While the fires that had raged for a week after the explosion were gone now, the site was no less horrific. There was city all around, and then suddenly a massive, charred, black hole. She started to tear up, imagining the awful things that had happened to all the people, the families, that had lived there. She could not even begin to imagine how Reno felt, and her heart went out to him. It was probably the worst event that had ever happened in her lifetime, but she didn't blame him in the slightest. No one did. No one except himself. He couldn't let it go, and Elena doubted he would ever be able to forgive himself.

While previously the silence had been comfortable, it had now become tense. In an effort to break it, Elena commented on the landscape, now that they were outside the vast city.

"Oh, look," she said, knowing how lame it sounded, "A tree." _Anything to keep him from sitting there brooding over the past._ She got what she wanted, as Reno slowly turned to look at her.

"A tree?" he questioned sarcastically, the corners of his mouth twitching into a small smile.

"Hey, don't laugh," she warned defensively, "We live in Midgar. It's a big deal to see any kind of wildlife."

"She has a point," Rude said calmly.

"Ok," Reno looked out the window and pointed, "Look, 'Lena, a penguin!"

"Where?" she instantly turned to search the ground below them a split second before it occurred to her that this was definitely not the climate for penguins, "Very funny, Reno." She was a little embarrassed that she'd fallen for it, but at least he was in a mood to joke.

"The word 'gullible' is written on the ceiling," the redhead commented with a smile.

"Yeah, right. I'm not falling for that."

"It really is," Rude pointed out.

"Seriously?" Elena looked up at once, wondering who on earth had written it up there. Much to her surprise, the ceiling was blank. Reno high-fived Rude as they both burst out laughing. "You're not allowed to team up on me! I forbid it!" she complained loudly, although she was just happy Reno was laughing again.

* * *

"We're there," Rude announced simply sometime later. Elena had lost track of exact time, getting caught up in the scenery and her own thoughts. She eagerly glanced below them where a sea of waving tree tops broken only by a small clearing greeted her. The helicopter was set down gently, and before it had even touched the ground, Reno had the door open and was hopping out with a wave and a cheerful goodbye for Rude. Elena was a bit more hesitant, taking more time to catch up with her surroundings.

"Bye," she said with a smile to Rude.

"Be careful," he looked serious, but then again he always did. Elena nodded and hopped out of the black aircraft. Reno was waiting impatiently for her. The helicopter took off at once as the two Turks made for the tree-line.

"How do you know where you are going?" Elena questioned. Reno had taken off with no hesitation, leaving the blonde to follow.

"This is why I'm in charge, not you," he grinned back at her, "I looked at a map and memorized it."

"Oh," she felt dumb now, but was determined to catch him on something, "Well how can you be sure this is the right way? It's easy to get turned around in the woods." She felt proud of herself, but it was short-lived because the redhead seemed to have an answer for everything.

"You can use the sun to stay on course," he pointed up to the sun which shone brightly here in such unpolluted air. It was decently visible through the trees.

Elena chose not to say anything else. Clearly he knew what he was doing and she'd only make herself look like more of an idiot if she went on with this conversation. Sometimes Elena wondered how she'd ended up as a Turk. She didn't seem to have done much good at all so far in her career. Still, she was determined to prove herself helpful one way or another. They walked at a swift pace for a good three hours before the trees began to thin out and abruptly turn into the outskirts of a city. Luckily, they managed to slip in without being seen. There were enough people out that they didn't stand out, and their bags were small enough to avoid suspicion. Still, they wanted to ditch the baggage as quickly as possible so Reno guided them on the shortest route through the dusty streets to their hotel. The place was nice enough to steer clear of being thought of as shady, yet humble enough to avoid much attention. Perfect for two people who wanted their presence to be unnoticeable.

Gladly letting Reno handle everything, Elena just followed behind him, taking in what sights there were to be observed. Finally safe from prying eyes, the redhead gently kicked the door of their room closed behind them.

"Home, sweet home," he grinned, tossing his bag in a chair and plopping down in another, "Walking sucks." He hadn't shown a single sign of being strained or fatigued in the slightest way during their entire hike, so Elena correctly inferred that he was just lazy.

"Not bad," Elena glanced about the room. It had a king-sized bed that looked extremely comfortable. Elena resisted the urge to go jump on it. A decent TV stood against the wall surrounded by a couple chairs and a black couch. A big closet and a nice bathroom completed the room.

"Yeah, Tseng always gets nice rooms," Reno commented, "He's just classy like that. He still annoys me though." He added this last comment after a moment of careful thought.

"Well you annoy him too," Elena smiled to herself, carefully putting her bag down on the floor, "What now?" It was still the middle of the afternoon and there were no clear objectives. It was completely up to Reno when and what they would do, and that worried her a bit.

"Right now we chill out," Reno kicked his feet up on the arm of the sofa as if to emphasize his statement, "And later, well how about I take you out to dinner?" He grinned and whipped a small plastic card out of nowhere. "Finally got the company credit card."

"Oh no," she tried to ignore how nice it made her feel when he phrased their dinner arrangements as a date, "Don't go nuts with that thing."

"Don't worry," he slipped it back in his pocket and put his hands comfortably behind his head, "Been there, done that. That's why they haven't given me one in forever."

"What did you do?" Elena questioned, sitting down on the comfortable couch. As much as she didn't approve of his misuse of company property, she sensed a good story.

"Bought a Ferrari," Reno said casually, pulling various belongings out of his pockets and placing them in a pile on the table. So far it included a cell-phone, a badass-looking pocket knife, a black pistol, and his EMR.

"What?!" Elena had been expecting something crazy, but that was beyond what she had imagined. She watched this pile grow, wondering how much he'd managed to pack into his pockets.

"I was on a mission with Rude," the redhead calmly explained as he added a handful of change and bullets to the pile, "And we needed a car. I don't remember where or why, but we did and I offered to procure a vehicle. That's the vehicle I got." He handed her his cell-phone. The picture on the screen was the most beautiful, sleek, black Ferrari she had ever seen. Possibly more beautiful was the tall redhead leaning against the driver's door with a huge smile on his face.

"Who took this picture?" she asked, "You're in it so you didn't take it, and I doubt Rude would have."

"No, this was before Rude had any idea," Reno laughed, taking the phone she offered back to him, "I got the sales guy to take it. You should have seen the look on Rude's face when I drove up in that. I think he almost had a heart attack."

"So exactly how much trouble where you in for that?"

"Less than I thought actually. We got a call from Heidegger within the hour, telling us to finish our mission in record time and get our asses back to Shinra by that night or we were both dead. Spent a good deal of time getting yelled at by Tseng. He got so mad he probably burst several veins. Rufus was the calmest actually. He complemented my good taste. Apparently car dealerships don't argue when Shinra returns a vehicle. There wasn't a scratch on it anyway. Long story short, I never got near a company credit card again." Reno grinned, "It was worth it. And not that bad actually because here I am just a year or so later off in Wutai with a limitless credit card. It's even got my name on it to help keep us a secret." He smiled at the small plastic rectangle in his hand before setting it down on the table as well.

"Wow, Reno," Elena laughed, "Don't get me in trouble."

"I'll be good, I promise. Entertain yourself for a minute, I'm gonna go take a shower," he rummaged briefly in his bag for clean clothes and then went into the bathroom, kicking the door closed behind him.

"Do you ever use doorknobs?" Elena called after him.

"Nope," the redhead called back. Elena shook her head and turned the TV on to kill time.

Ten minutes later, and Reno emerged from the bathroom, shoving the dark goggles that normally rested high on his forehead to hold his hair back in his pocket. His blood-red hair was almost a maroon shade when it was wet, and although it remained in it's usual ponytail, the mess of loose strands near the front still got in his way, plastering themselves to his forehead instead of falling in front of his eyes.

"Miss me?" Reno teased, tossing his dirty clothes in the vague direction if his bag which he had relocated to an empty corner. Probably the best place for it.

"Not yet, but if you'd been gone a second longer…" Elena let the sentence trail off as she went along with his joke, turning the TV off and getting off the couch.

"I'm thinkin' I'll go check out the hotel," Reno said, switching to a more serious topic, "Good to know the layout of where we're stayin'. Want to come?"

"No, I'm going to take a shower now," she dug in her bag, looking for the right clothes, "Stay away from the bar."

"Hey, I'm not an alcoholic, 'Laney," Reno protested, shoving various articles from his haphazard pile on the table into his pockets, "Didn't even know this place had a bar until you brought it up. Maybe I will go check it out now." He grinned, enjoying teasing her.

"Oh, please," Elena argued, pulling a shirt out of her bag as she turned to face him, "I know you saw it when we came in."

"And how do you know that for certain?"

"Because you always see everything," she pointed out, realizing that she was complimenting him even though her tone was smugly triumphant as she won their playful argument. Alas, as usual, victory was short-lived.

"I didn't see that," Reno lied mischievously, with a twinkle in his eye as he pointed to the ground at her feet. Elena looked down only to discover that, while she had been rummaging in her bag, a certain article of clothing, black and lacey in nature, seemed to have made it's way onto the floor in plain view. "Now remember what Tseng said, 'Laney," Reno warned, grinning hugely, "You can't be enacting your naughty little plans to seduce me. We have work to do."

"I have no plans," Elena hastily grabbed the garment and threw it back into the bag, "I did not pack that, and I'm not trying to seduce you!" Beet-red, she retreated into the bathroom in a single leap, slamming the door behind her. She heard him laughing to himself for a moment more before he left the hotel room, still laughing quietly as he faded out of hearing range.

"Why?" Elena managed to wail and whisper at the same time, "Why do all these awful things happen to me?" While she showered, Elena considered the possibility that she was cursed. It was the only logical explanation for all the unfortunate mishaps such as this. Then again, it wasn't exactly logical to assume you were cursed. She was stumped when trying to figure out when and why she could have contracted such a curse. Finally, as she stepped out of the shower, she came to the conclusion that she was not cursed, there was no such thing as curses, and that there was no reason for the terrible things happening to her.

The massive, fluffy white towels the hotel stocked their bathrooms with made her feel better. _Nothing like a hot shower and a soft, squishy towel to make a girl feel better._ Reaching for her clean clothes, Elena paused for a moment, staring as her heart began to sink again.

"Oh, no," she groaned, rolling her eyes, "Seriously?" In her haste to run from embarrassment, she'd forgotten to gather all her clothes. A problem easily solved however. Wrapping the towel securely around herself, Elena pressed her ear against the door. Not a sound came from the hotel room. The coast was clear.

The moment she got her hands on her bag, Reno abruptly walked through the door. Elena was so distressed by this turn of events, she became strangely calm. _Of course. Of course. What else could have happened?_ She'd whirled to face him, clutching that towel that didn't seem so massive now as if it were the one thing holding her from falling into a bottomless pit. Reno didn't see her at once, eyes resting more on ground level as he kicked the door closed behind him and locked it. It was when he looked up to toss the key onto the table that he noticed her standing there staring at him with her mouth hanging open. He froze for a moment in shock, the keys falling to the ground unnoticed. They both stared at each other for a weird moment, before anyone moved.

"Well this is a bit awkward," Reno finally said, his eyes involuntarily looking her up and down slowly. Elena clearly attempted to say something, but all that came out was a sort of squeak as she once again ran off to the bathroom at lightning speed, holding tightly to the clothes she needed.

Elena sunk to the ground, safely on the other side of the bathroom door, and leaned her head back. _This is quickly becoming ridiculous, Fate. Really? What are the odds of him coming in silently at the exact moment I happen to be dressed in nothing but a towel? What are you trying to do?_ Elena glared at the ceiling, attempting to interrogate it for answers. _At least I just shaved my legs._ She felt almost guilty about the one semi-pleasant thought as she gently rubbed her smooth leg. _What?! If a girl has to be exposed in nothing but a towel, at least grant her the good luck to have nice looking legs!_ This thought process comforting her mildly, Elena got up and proceeded to get dressed, taking her sweet time since she was reluctant to go out there now.

After Elena bolted into the bathroom, Reno stood where he was for a minute, looking around blankly, sufficiently thrown off by this turn of events. Eventually he recovered enough to pick the keys of the floor and return them to where they belonged on the table. _Ok._ He clapped his hands together quietly and went about getting that image out of his head as quickly as possible. He failed miserably and ended up fumbling aimlessly with his cell-phone as he stood in the middle of the room mentally re-playing the brief moment. _She does have nice legs._ He didn't even bother to correct himself for allowing these thoughts. It was no use at this point anyway. He was doomed to love her, and want her, but he wouldn't drag her into it. Everyone he loved got hurt somehow or another and he was trying to keep her as safe as he could.

"Sorry," they both said at once when Elena eventually came out of the bathroom, fully clothed this time.

"Don't sneak up on me," Elena couldn't help throwing in.

"I wasn't sneakin' up on you!" Reno protested, "I'm just naturally quiet when I move. Maybe you shouldn't go prancin' around in towels!"

"I wasn't prancing around!" it was Elena's turn to be on the defensive, "I forgot some clothes."

"Sure, whatever," Reno grinned, his exaggerated tone of disbelief daring her to continue the argument.

"So how are we going to go about our job here?" Elena settled into a chair, as far away from him as she could get and changed the topic.

"Excessive sight-seeing," Reno answered promptly, "Since we don't really have a pinpointed search area, we just kinda gotta start somewhere and look until we find somethin'. So we happen to be startin' in this place. We'll look around, if we don't find anythin' worthy of further inspection, we'll contact Tseng and move on. Hope ya like to travel because the odds of us findin' what we're lookin' for at once are against us."

"So kind of like we were doing back in Midgar at that bar?" Elena questioned, her eyes clouding as mention of that night unwillingly brought back memories of other things that had happened then.

"Yeah, sort of," Reno picked up on her discomfort, "Only I'm not lettin' ya out of my sight this time." Elena nodded, staring off at a corner uncomfortably. Reno watched her for a moment and then checked his phone for the time. "Let's go eat dinner. And remember, we have to look like a couple." Reno grinned, that mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he watched her closely. His bit of worry was washed away as Elena's dark thoughts washed away. She smiled and got up.

"Alright, where are we going?" she asked.

* * *

After they ate dinner, Reno and Elena spent several hours in one of the bars in the town, watching and listening for anything that could lead them in the right direction. They eventually left with no information whatsoever, but neither of them really cared. They were more interested in each other. True to his word, Reno stuck very close to her as they walked along the dark streets back to the hotel.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Elena questioned, following as Reno weaved quickly through a complicated maze of streets and alleys. She wasn't the best at remembering directions, but she was certain this was not the way they had come.

"Yeah, I'm just taking a shortcut to get us back. I'm tired," Reno smiled, "I'm not gonna get us lost, don't worry." The words were barely out of his mouth and Elena had opened hers to reply when Reno suddenly grabbed her, clamping a hand over her mouth and pulling them both back into the shadows.

A group of men, sufficiently threatening-looking, had appeared around a corner ahead of them and now occupied the alley, literally dragging a prisoner with them. The poor man they had in their clutches was thrown roughly to the ground in the middle of their circle. One of the group had approached him, and was speaking, too quietly for the Turks to hear.

Reno moved his hand from Elena's mouth slowly, as they both watched. Curious to hear what was being said, Elena eagerly inched forward, straining to catch the words passed. Whatever this gang wanted from that man, it was clear he was in a bad situation. Suddenly, the questioner punched the captive in the face, sending the man skidding. This one motion was like a signal for the start of a vicious and silent attack. The gang was literally beating their defenseless captive to death, and it was not pretty. Surprised, and shocked, Elena stood frozen staring with wide eyes as they ruthlessly pounded on the man, who had given up even trying to save himself at this point. Even though they weren't very close, the blood that soon began to spill all over the place stood out as vividly as the smell of it. The man cried out horribly, but anyone who heard him was powerless.

It seemed like a year that Elena watched this poor soul being tortured, but in reality it was only a few seconds before Reno realized what was going on and reached out, pulling her back close to him. She broke out of her horrified trance as soon as he touched her and she spun around, instinctively hiding her face in his chest to keep out the awful sight. Surprised to find Elena suddenly wrapping her arms around him, Reno hesitated only a second before gently, but firmly, covering her ears to keep out the sound of human bone and flesh being smashed.

Reno himself looked back up at the scene before him, and practically felt his pistol burning a hole in his jacket. Glowing eyes flicking quickly over the crowd, he counted them and compared their number to the number of bullets he had. He noted that they were extremely well-armed, guns and other weapons clearly visible on every single one of the large group. This took place all in the space of another few seconds and, glancing down at Elena, who was using him as protection against the scarring scene before her, Reno made his choice.

Elena's eyes were squeezed tightly shut as she hid her face against Reno. Thankfully he had covered her ears, so now the sounds were muted. Close as she was to him, she could feel every breath he took and hear every heartbeat. Although she was freaking out and horrified, Reno's pulse and breathing didn't escalate in the slightest. The distance sounds died off eventually, but Elena was not about to move until she was sure it was gone. A few moments later, Reno uncovered her ears. She backed away, still too shocked to be embarrassed about having suddenly thrown herself at him. Looking up at him, she was surprised by his expression. She didn't know what she had been expecting to see on his face, but she was surprised by nothing. There was not a trace of a single emotion on his face. Absolutely nothing.

For a moment she was almost scared. _How do you watch that and not feel the tiniest bit of sympathy?_ Then she realized that he had been a Turk for many years before she ever got involved with Shinra. He'd probably done much the same thing himself on occasion. Whatever the case, he took her arm gently.

"Let's go," he whispered, leading her quickly through the now emptied alley, doing his best to avoid the bloodiest spot and using his body to block most of the space from her view. With one last horrified look over her shoulder, Elena huddled close to him as they rushed off in silence.

"Could we have done anything?" Elena asked, breaking their complete silence once they entered the hotel room. She hadn't been thinking straight at the time, and now it haunted her that they might have been able to help. Reno shook his head.

"There were too many of them and they were too well armed," he looked at her solemnly, his eyes going a bit dark, "I probably couldn't have gotten out of there without some kind of serious injury, and that won't do on an undercover mission. At least one of 'em would have gotten away and word would have spread about mysterious newcomers. That guy was dead anyway. If they didn't get him then, they would have gotten him another time."

Elena nodded, convinced by his argument but still feeling the dark presence of witnessing such an awful occurrence.

"'Laney," Reno said quietly, suddenly right next to her. He placed one long finger under her chin and turned her head to face him, looking at her seriously. "Nothing would have prevented that man's death, trust me. Put it out of your mind and go to sleep."

She stared up at him with wide eyes, carefully motionless, subconsciously holding her breath while she waited to see what he would do next. His shining aqua eyes seemed to search hers for a moment before he moved away, as suddenly and silently as he had come. Elena watched as he made his way over to the couch and promptly fell onto it, landing exactly where he wanted himself. When he didn't move further, Elena walked over and leaned on the back of the sofa, looking down at him.

Reno lay flat on his back, his legs hanging over the arm of the couch from the knee down. He still had his combat boots on and his blood-red hair sprawled out behind him on the cushions. His hand rested lightly on the black pistol that lay on his stomach.

"What?" he whispered, opening one eye.

"Are you really going to sleep like that? It doesn't look comfortable."

"It's actually very comfortable. Believe me, I've slept in worse places," he opened his other eye and looked up at her with a small smile.

"You're not by any chance expecting an assassination attempt tonight, are you?" she looked pointedly at the gun under his hand. Following her gaze, he grinned.

"You never know. We are on a mission in a basically hostile environment. Anymore questions? I am sort of exhausted." Although his words were blunt enough, he didn't look or sound annoyed at all. He just kept his barely noticeable smile as he watched her.

"Yeah, that's it, sorry," Elena smiled hurriedly and went away, feeling bad for bothering him. She grabbed one of the several fluffy pillows and a blanket from the bed and carried them over to the couch, unceremoniously dumping them on the redhead.

"Thank you," Reno's voice was muffled, coming from under a blanket. Elena smiled and dug in her bag for a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, deciding the odds of them being attacked in the middle of the night were slim enough to merit her being comfortable instead of ready to go at any given second.

* * *

The next morning, Elena was woken up by bright sunlight peeking through the cracks in the curtains on the windows. Yawning and rolling over she glanced at her phone on the table next to the bed, checking the time. She was surprised by the time. It was a good hour or two later than when she normally woke up. Stretching and slipping out of bed, Elena crept over to the couch to see if Reno was awake or not. The redhead hadn't moved since she'd seen him last. He was still asleep, a tiny frown on his face, his chest rising and falling evenly with his breaths. She stood there, eyes moving slowly over him, just content to watch him. _Oh why did you have to fall for the guy that could get any girl he wanted? What's he going to want you for?_ Internally groaning, she bit her lip.

A moment passed before she was distracted from her sad thoughts by something else. Frowning, she looked closely at his face. He was very fair-skinned, as most redheads were and Reno was quite the redhead. Right now, however, Elena thought he looked pale, and slightly flushed. He stirred, a soft, barely audible mutter escaping his lips as he shifted, causing the messy loose strands of hair to fall over his eyes. He clumsily raised a hand to push them away, but they fell right back, causing him to grumble and blink his eyes open, struggling to focus them.

Elena backed away quietly now that he was waking up, unable to help herself from smiling hugely. _He's adorable!_ Careful to take all the clothes she needed, Elena slipped into the bathroom to change, still smiling to herself about how cute Reno was.

When she came out, he was sitting on the edge of the couch, his elbows on his knees as he rubbed his eyes and pushed the unruly mess of hair back, using the black goggles to hold it mostly out of the way.

"Good morning," Elena commented, walking over and leaning on the back of the couch. He turned tiredly to look at her.

"Hey." Sleep clung to his smooth voice. He still looked pale and flushed.

"Are you feeling ok?" she asked hesitantly. Reno gave her a funny look as he stood up, stretching his long limbs.

"Uh, yeah, why?" He looked away, absentmindedly looking over the pistol in his hand.

"Just…because," she answered, believing him, "You looked a little pale."

"I'm fine," he assured her. He suddenly picked the TV remote up and began to fiddle with it, turning it on and pressing random buttons. "I wonder what that does…" he muttered, flopping down onto the couch and clearly ending the discussion about how he felt.

"Don't play with that, it's not a toy," Elena teased, poking his shoulder.

"Anything's a toy if I play with it," Reno responded promptly, continuing to mess around with the TV.

"What do you want to do about breakfast?" Elena asked, sitting down on the couch next to him while he busied himself with flipping through channels aimlessly.

"I dunno," he sighed, "I'm not really hungry."

"Well that's fine with me because I don't normally eat breakfast," she replied, "What are we going to do today then?"

"Uh," Reno dug around his pockets, looking for his phone. He checked the time, yawning. "Yeah, I guess we better do somethin'. I guess we could walk around sort of, lookin' for anythin' suspicious."

"Alright, let's go," Elena jumped up. The excitement of this mission hadn't worn off yet. To her, it still felt like something out of a movie.

"No need to be so perky," Reno muttered, lazily turning off the TV and pulling himself to his feet, "Hang on a minute, I gotta grab some stuff." He looked down at the gun in his hand with a frown. He wasn't wearing a jacket, and anywhere he carried it on himself would be obvious. With a sigh, he walked over to the bed and shoved it under a pillow. Clearly trying to compensate for the lack of his pistol, Reno dug around his stuff, managing to hide several knives on his person.

"Should I be armed?" Elena asked, glancing at her bag where she'd kept her gun since they'd left Midgar.

"No, you're with me," Reno answered simply, before seeming to re-think this, "Actually do you have a knife or somethin' small with you? You need to have somethin' in case anythin' happens to me."

"Yeah," Elena almost stammered as she got her knife, the very mention of something possibly happening to Reno bothering her intensely, "I won't need to use it though, right?" She kept her tone almost as a joke, but she was internally looking for reassurance that nothing bad would happen to him.

"Nah," the redhead waved away her worries, "I'll be fine."

_Author's Note: So, sort of a random place to cut off, I know, but that's where I stopped writing just now, so that's where I'll end. =P Plus it makes for an easier transition for me later. Win! So anyhow, I hope you enjoyed the super long special update and I hope to be able to post on time next week!! I hope you guys all enjoyed your winter break and have fun going back to school/work/both/neither/whatever. =) In the meantime, PLEASE REVIEW! =) I love to get them. They make my life extra special. In fact, why don't you all give yourselves a hug for being so wonderful about reading my story, even though I update off schedule. And for those of you who review, give yourselves a cookie. =) You guys are awesome!! _


	20. Chapter 20

_Author's Note: Hey guys! I actually remembered what day it was, and my internet was working! Win! =P So here is your update, right on time! We're really getting to the exciting part now so enjoy! Also, a surprise guest appears in this chapter, so read on to find out who. =) Anyway, I don't have much to say surprisingly, so without further ado, I give you my update!!!!! =D_

The Turks spent the whole day wandering the town, weaving through alleys and strolling down main streets, just looking for anything that could lead them to the people they searched for. They hardly spoke at all, but Elena kept an eye on Reno, still concerned since no color was returning to his face. It was mid-afternoon by now and she looked up at the redhead, her attention drawn to him after awhile because he'd slowed down. She frowned. He looked worse now, even more pale then earlier and appearing exhausted. His eyes shimmered brightly, a very light shade of aqua. She was about to say something when he stopped, and beat her to it.

"Dammit," he wasn't looking at her, but somewhere past her, further up the street the walked on.

"What?" Elena turned to look at the exact time a loud, cheerful voice called out.

"Turkey!" a small, short brown-haired girl ran towards them. Reno looked wearily annoyed, but this girl had a huge smile on her face although Elena could tell she was fully alert.

"Hey, princess," Reno spoke sarcastically, managing to make the title sound like an insult, "What the hell are ya doin' here?"

"I have more of a reason to be asking you that very same thing," the girl retorted quickly.

"What's going on?" Elena asked, looking back and forth between them. The girl suddenly turned her attention on Elena.

"Yeah, why don't you introduce your friend?" the girl demanded.

"Elena, this is Yuffie. She's sort of a ninja and the littlest member of AVALANCHE," Reno explained basically, not putting much of his usual attitude into it. He seemed too tired.

"'Sort of'?!" Yuffie exclaimed, glaring at him, "I could so kick your ass! And I'm an adult!"

"Sure, whatever."

"Let's settle this with a fight!" Yuffie seemed an excitable person.

"Not now, I don't feel like it," Reno brushed it off, surprising Elena because he never turned down the chance for a good fight.

"That's ok, I understand how intimidating I can be," Yuffie smirked, clearly waiting impatiently for him to fall for the bait and their battle to begin. When she didn't get what she expected, she frowned and continued, "Fine, don't then. You never answered my question though. What are you two doing here?" The girl looked casual but she didn't hide her curiosity well enough.

"Vacation," Reno answered promptly, "Wutai's a lot sunnier than Midgar."

"Why didn't you go to Costa Del Sol?" Yuffie questioned, "If it's sun you're after that's the perfect place. You could use it too, Turkey. You're white as a sheet."

"Don't like beaches," Reno shot back with no hesitation. Yuffie didn't give up though, the suspicion showing clearly in her brown eyes.

"So what's she doing with you? Got yourself a girlfriend?" she persisted, gesturing toward Elena who stood by awkwardly.

"Yup," Reno was slower to answer this time, and his gaze shifted from the energetic girl to a nearby wall that he stared at blankly. The single word hung in the air uncomfortably.

"Really?" Yuffie looked delighted, but there was a devious twinkle in her eye, "Prove it."

"What?" Elena couldn't help but blurt out.

"If he's not lying and you're really his girlfriend he'll have no problem kissing you right here, right now," Yuffie was already starting to look smug, knowing she'd caught them, "So what's the matter, Turkey? Kiss her."

"Ok," Reno said distractedly, jerkily moving from his standstill to be close enough to her. Without touching her anywhere else, Reno pressed a kiss on her lips, lingering there longer then was probably necessary. Elena didn't notice this though, she hadn't even recovered from the shock before she realized his lips were hot, much hotter than they should be.

"Satisfied?" Reno asked, his voice slower and the words slightly mumbled, "Now why don't you tell us what you're doin' here? I thought you and daddy weren't on speaking terms."

"We're not," Yuffie forgot all about what had just happened at this mention. She frowned. "I'm doing a bit of independent investigation while AVALANCHE doesn't need me. There's some rogue gang of ninjas who've been causing trouble around Wutai. I suspect they're behind some recent explosions in Midgar, and I don't really care about that, but they're messing with my country and I won't stand for that!" She spoke defiantly and crossed her arms. "I've tracked them down to this town, but as for where they are here, I don't know."

Her words, although heard by Elena at least, would have drawn more attention except that in the midst of her speech, Reno had started to sway slightly and suddenly collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily with his eyes squeezed shut.

"Reno!" Elena knelt instantly, grabbing his hand and pressing her palm to his face, "He's burning up. I knew something was wrong with him!"

"Whoa, what's the matter with Turkey?" Yuffie knelt on the ground too, peering at him curiously.

"I don't know!" Elena was starting to freak out, "He just started looking sick this morning. He said he was fine! I've got to get him back to the hotel." She glanced around. Luckily they weren't far.

"I'll help," Yuffie offered generously, actually showing a mild amount of concern.

"What the hell just happened?" Reno muttered, his eyes flickering open.

"You collapsed," Elena explained, "We're taking you back to the hotel now. Why didn't you tell me you felt bad?"

"I dunno, I thought it would go away," Reno's eyes shone brightly, practically glowing, "Can't interrupt the mission."

"Ah ha!" Yuffie exclaimed, pointing a triumphant finger in his face, "You aren't here on vacation! I knew it. So your girlfriend's a Turk too?"

"Damn," Reno glanced over at the brunette, frowning.

"Don't worry about that now," Elena said hurriedly, "Just get up and let's go back. We're not far." The redhead pulled himself shakily to his feet and, leaning heavily on Elena most of the way, they made it back to the hotel without anymore collapsing.

Before long, Elena had him settled in the bed. He was awake, but he wasn't responding to much of anything at the moment.

"I should call a doctor," Elena said, worried and almost at a loss for what to do.

"No," Reno grabbed her arm suddenly, keeping her near the bed. His hand was hot, and his voice sounded a little faint. "Whatever you do, don't call a doctor. I'll be fine soon enough."

Elena just looked at him in consternation. She looked to Yuffie for advice, wanted a second opinion from anyone at this point.

"Turkey doesn't want a doctor," Yuffie shrugged, then crossed her arms and adopted a more stern look, "So the redhead here is taken care of for the moment. Why don't you tell me what you Turks are doing here?"

"We're supposed to be tracking down the same people you are. Only we're after them because they _have_ been blowing up mako reactors in Midgar," Elena decided that it didn't matter what this girl knew at this point. It didn't look like their mission was going to get much further now. "We started off here, but we have no idea where they are really."

"Huh," Yuffie looked thoughtful, "Well you're in luck because I've been tracking them for weeks now. Elusive guys these are. No surprise, they're ninjas!" She appeared proud even though the group she spoke of clearly wasn't friendly by any means. "Anyway, I know they're here in this town. I don't know for how long though because they seem to be moving as I follow them. Sometimes I think they know when I find them, and then they move before I can pin them down. Maybe I can get them this time! Turkey better feel better soon because we're going to need his help!"

"You think they know we're after them too?" Elena questioned, remembering how Reno had slept with his gun actually in his hand as precaution. She glanced around nervously, as if one of the practically invisible ninjas were hiding in the corner this very minute.

"I don't know," the brunette moved about energetically, not able to stand still, "They could, they could not. Anyway, I've got to go keep looking. I won't let them get away from me this time! You just make Turkey better so we can get these jerks!" The enthusiastic girl literally ran out the door without another word. Elena watched her go, feeling very alone suddenly even though she barely knew this young ninja.

She turned to look down at Reno. His skin was incredibly white, making him look extremely fragile. The red tattoos under his eyes stood out even more, as well as the blood-colored hair that surrounded his face. He appeared to be asleep, but his eyelids flickered and his lips moved minutely as if he were whispering but he made no sound other than his heavy breathing. He shivered and, with a small groan, rolled onto his side, wrapping his arms around himself.

"Reno," Elena said softly, putting a hand on his arm, which was hot as well. He didn't show any sign of noticing her presence. "Reno," she said again, sitting on the edge of the bed and looking down on him worriedly.

"Huh," he made a tiny noise and opened his eyes to look at her. His eyes were even brighter than before and glinted feverishly.

"What's the matter? What do I need to do for you?" she knew how to take care of a fever, but this was weird, and different. He showed all the symptoms of a fever but it came on with no warning and so quickly that it made her wonder. He was getting worse swiftly and she was scared. "Talk to me, Reno."

"I'm freezing," he said brokenly, his teeth almost chattering. Elena pulled the covers over him instantly. He was burning up to the touch, but it was common for people with fevers to feel cold. "Thanks," he mumbled, although he still shivered, "I can't explain….call Tseng." Reno's words slipped into silence.

"How is Tseng going to know what's wrong with you?" Elena questioned, frowning, "He's all the way in Midgar."

"Just call him, 'Laney," Reno groaned again and curled up, an intense frown of pain on his face. Not asking anymore questions, Elena got up and found her cell-phone, standing at the window and looking out at the setting sun as she made her call.

"Hello?" Tseng answered almost at once, probably interested to hear from them.

"Something's wrong with Reno," Elena spoke hurriedly. There was silence for a moment.

"Like what?"

"Like….he's got a fever. He randomly fainted earlier. We're back at the hotel now, but he's pale as a ghost, breathing heavy, and….his eyes…" She drifted off, not really knowing what to say. Tseng seemed to have picked up on something she hadn't though.

"His eyes? Bright, almost glowing?"

"Yeah, exactly," Elena wondered how the man knew, glancing back over at Reno, "He's in pain, Tseng. He's getting worse and he just looks…ill."

"Dammit," Tseng cursed under his breath, and she heard him hurriedly relaying the information to someone, Rude probably. She caught the word 'mako' though which made her instantly curious.

"What's wrong with him, Tseng? Tell me," Elena begged him.

"Ok, Elena, listen closely because this is important," Tseng began, speaking quickly, "You know about Reno and the mako, right?"

"Yeah," she pulled the curtain across the window as the sun disappeared, leaving the town in twilight.

"Well it has varying side effects, including this. We refer to it as mako fever for simplicity. It happens every so often, once, maybe twice a year. Sometimes it's worse than others, but it always comes without warning. He'll have all the symptoms of a fever: high temperature, chills, weakness, fainting, etc. No one knows why, but it's almost as if the mako in his system begins to attack his body from the inside and it doesn't stop until he receives an injection of mako. He will not get better until he gets it. He'll go into a coma if he goes too long without receiving the mako."

"Well what are we going to do?" Elena began to freak out, "We don't have any mako here! What do I do?"

"Calm down, just sit tight," Tseng's voice was firm, "I'm on my way right now to get the mako. Hojo is supposed to always have some prepared, just in case. He won't give it up easily since he prefers to study this fever as long as possible before giving Reno the injection." Tseng's voice clearly showed the hatred and disgust he felt for the scientist. "But don't worry. He'll give it to me." Elena could tell from the tone that Hojo most certainly would be giving Tseng that mako with no trouble. "Rude and I will be there as soon as we can. Do whatever you can to make him feel better. If he gets much worse, call me at once! I'm at Hojo's lab now, is there anything else you need to know before I go?"

"No, no, that's fine," her head was spinning with this new information anyway.

"Tell him we're coming," Tseng sounded worried as he hung up. Snapping her own phone closed and tucking it in her pocket, Elena walked back over to the bed where Reno lay weakly, glowing eyes half-lidded and staring blankly in front of him.

"Tseng and Rude are coming," she said, unsure if he could hear her or not. Apparently he did because the redhead's eyes flicked towards her.

"Everything hurts, 'Laney," his voice was slightly hoarse and he seemed dazed and confused, "Why?" Her heart wrenched at the pain in his voice.

"It's the mako," she said, trying to trigger the memories in his distracted mind, "We're going to fix it soon though, ok? Just hold on."

"Mako," the pain was momentarily forgotten in the bitterness of that single word he practically spat out. His eyes almost literally flashed before gently closing again as he drifted off with a sigh.

Elena sat next to him, anxiously waiting until the others arrived with the one substance that could make him better, ironically the same substance that made him this way in the first place. She absently stroked his hair, running her fingers through it and straightening it neatly. She brushed the loose strands out of his face and behind his ear, feeling the intense heat radiating off his skin. With a sigh she looked down at him, gently rubbing his neck with her fingers. He didn't seem to mind, or even notice and she didn't want to stop touching him.

* * *

Hours passed, much the same as the previous ones. Elena didn't bother turning on any lights, afraid they would disturb the semi-rest he was getting. Reno only got worse, seeming to be in some half-sleep state. He must have been dreaming things because every now and then his mumbled sounds formed words. So far Elena had heard him mention blood, lots of blood, and mako. He'd even softly called for his mother at one point. Exhausted herself, Elena wasn't really listening anymore until she heard her name.

"What?" she said quietly, but he didn't respond. He mumbled her name again, stirring slightly. _He's still dreaming._ She was surprised, and gently touched his burning cheek. "I'm right here."

"Hey," he was awake now, and seemed to be feeling a little better for the moment. His glittering eyes stared intensely at her. He was still sort of foggy, and his words had the slur of fatigue.

"Hi," she replied, smiling, "How do you feel?"

"Like crap," he answered at once, the ghost of his usual teasing grin on his face, "But I'm not really thinkin' about that right now." He didn't take his eyes off her face for a second, almost making her uncomfortable.

"Well what are you thinking about?" Elena asked, checking the time on her phone as an excuse to look away from his piercing gaze.

"That day…when I first met you," Reno said quietly, "I was in the hospital after…Sector Seven." He was silent for a moment, the mention clouding his light-colored eyes. "Anyway, you were watchin' the heart rate monitoring machine thing." Elena remembered the day, but she didn't interrupt, instead she observed him closely. He seemed hazy, in a slight daze. "I was teasin' you," he continued, looking up at the ceiling, "Askin' if ya wished it beat just for you."

Elena blushed in the dark, remembering that moment vividly. It was all the more awkward because he'd remembered it as well and now she realized that he'd touched upon the truth, even though neither of them knew it at the time, and he still didn't know how she felt about him.

"I remember," she whispered, slipping her phone into her pocket and focusing on her hands, waiting to move on from this awkward recollection.

"Well…" Reno looked back at her from the ceiling, fixing his feverishly bright gaze on her, "It does." Wincing slightly, he sat up suddenly. Elena's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. Turning her head slowly, she looked at him searchingly. "I love you, Elena, and I promise this isn't some crazy hallucination." He spoke must faster now, almost tripping over his words. Leaning forward, Reno put his hands on her hips and moved in to kiss her, hesitating for a second when his lips were less than an inch from hers. Elena did not hesitate. Putting her arms around his neck, she kissed the redhead, the concern she otherwise would have felt at how hot his lips were overpowered by the pure joy she was experiencing, so intense it almost hurt. She could hardly believe what was happening.

Reno had kissed her twice before, but this was completely different. He meant it this time and she could feel it, sense it, taste it. He kissed her harder, purposefully tipping her over onto her back.

Suddenly, Reno stopped and pulled back with lightning speed, reaching for the pillow he'd slipped his gun under earlier that day. Simultaneously, the door burst open and several black-clad figures poured in with the same lightning speed. Two of them dove for Reno without a sound, successfully overpowering the fever-weakened and surprised redhead in a matter of seconds. Before she even comprehended what was happening, Elena was grabbed roughly, her mouth covered by a gloved hand so no sound she made could be heard. She struggled but was held so securely she could barely move.

Even once they had him, it took two of them to keep Reno still. His eyes flashed dangerously, but he was too weak to do anything. In fact, Elena was worried he would collapse again as he sagged slightly. Their captors held him tightly though, keeping him from going anywhere, including the floor. Not a single one had said so much as a single word. They all had seemed to know exactly what to do and when to do it. There was no clear leader of the group, but one approached the bed, retrieving the gun Reno had been reaching for. The two Turks watched him closely.

Elena became terrified as the same black-clad figure walked silently over to Reno, toying with the gun in his hand. She began to struggle again, unsuccessfully, while Reno simply stared defiantly at the man in front of him. Still without a word, the man whacked Reno across the head with the butt of the pistol, too fast for the redhead to even flinch. Reno instantly slumped, unconscious as a small trickle of blood crawled down his face from his temple. Elena gasped, but it was barely heard since her mouth was still covered. The apparent leader made a vague motion in her direction, which was apparently understood.

Elena felt the tiniest prick in her neck and everything turned to darkness as she blacked out at once.

_Author's Note:_ _*gasp* What now?!?!?!?! =) I know a lot happened all at once here, but there's nothing wrong with action! Sometimes in real life everything happens at once too, so those of you who were considering complaining about a sudden change in pace, think again. =P If your life is constantly perfectly paced and all events are evenly spaced out for you, then please, by my guest and complain. =D lol, anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed and please, please, please leave me a review and let me know what you think of all the stuff going on now!!! Thanks so much! By the way, if you're intrigued by mako stuff, I suggest you go read Lithium and Slither by renoxxxXXXxxx because they are fantabulous! Yes, yes I do have to make up words to capture their awesomeness! And I can't even make up words good enough! =) Anyway, go read both of those, and review my story and hers. xD Good stuff. Alright, I'm going now. I look forward to getting your reviews!!!_


	21. Chapter 21

_Author's Note: So since this is like, getting epic and stuff, I've written like 10K words since Friday...so I figured I'd give you guys an extra update! =) I just want to warn you all now that I am enjoying this part way too much. It is an interesting phenomenon. When you take such a sexy guy like Reno, and give him some kind of wound, or sickness, it makes him infinitely hotter. Unexplainable, but I don't care. =) So yeah.....I'm not going to hold ya'll up any longer. Go ahead and read it. ENJOY!_

Pain. That was Reno's first feeling, first thought as he regained consciousness. There was the prickly all-over pain that he knew from the mako fever, but now his head throbbed and he didn't know why. Slowly opening his eyes while he rubbed his head, he glanced around in confusion at his unfamiliar surroundings. _Where the hell are you?_ He couldn't remember a thing until he felt something wet on his forehead. Bringing his hand down to his eyes, it came back to him. _Blood._ He remembered now, in reverse order. Being hit, captured, kissing Elena. _Elena._ His eyes widened and he sat up suddenly, making his head spin as he looked around frantically. She was nowhere to be seen. Reno himself was in a tiny room, completely empty. The floor and walls, except for one, were made of stone. The one different wall was composed of metal bars, stretching from floor to ceiling, part of which was a door, complete with multiple padlocks.

Reno frowned. He'd seen a lot in his life, especially once he joined the Turks, but never once had he been locked in a classic jail cell.

"What the hell is goin' on here?" he muttered aloud, leaning up against a wall and squeezing his eyes shut to concentrate on thinking. His head throbbed uncomfortably and he was weak and disoriented by a high fever. Obviously their presence in this place had been discovered by those they had been after. Their opponents were smart this time. The ninjas had chosen to chose their own battleground so to speak, finding and capturing the Turks before their hideout was located. Reno had been off his guard and only heard their basically inaudible approach at the very last second. He didn't wonder how they'd snuck up on him. He had been focused completely on Elena at the time, and he didn't regret it. Reno loved her and that's why he wasn't going to let this mako fever or a couple of padlocks stop him from finding her and making her safe again.

Noble intentions, but there wasn't much Reno could do when he felt too weak to stand up for long, much less break out of a cell, locate another person, and escape without discovery. He opened his eyes to examine what he could see of the room outside his cell, and was surprised to find someone standing patiently outside the bars. This man stood by calmly, watching Reno with a small, smug smile on his face. He was dressed completely in black, identical to all the others they had previously seen, except his face was no covered.

"I see you are awake," the man's grey eyes were cold, hard, and calculating, but his voice was deceptively polite and calm.

"Where the hell am I?" Reno demanded, glaring at his captor, "And where's Elena?"

"The girl? She is not here," the man replied, looking almost amused.

"No duh, she's not here, I'm askin' where she is, dammit!"

"Cursing will get you nowhere. Consider that a warning," the man still spoke calmly, but a hardness was in his voice.

"You're gonna tell me exactly who you are, where I am, and where she is," Reno's words were quiet but dripping with a deathly determination.

"No, you're going to do exactly as I say and tell me exactly what I would like to know, because I am the one that has captured you, and not the other way around, my friend," the man's eyes flashed. Clearly he did not take to people mouthing off well. "Cooperation is your best friend here. If you behave exceptionally well, perhaps we'll leave you alive, Reno."

"Am I supposed to be impressed that ya know my name?" Reno had to take a different course for the moment, reluctantly giving up on learning where Elena was for the time.

"If you'd like, you may," the man had regained his cool composure, "I know exactly who you are, just as I know all about everything to do with Shinra."

"Why are ya blowin' up the reactors?" Reno asked suddenly, hoping to surprise an answer out of this man.

"Shinra is a monster," the man did not seem surprised but he answered anyway, "It's destroying the planet and everything good on it. Shinra must die, and so must all who would stand in my way. But first, they must suffer, like they make the planet suffer." The man spoke bitterly, an intense hatred clear in his voice.

"Crap, another plant enthusiast," Reno rolled his eyes, laughing under his breath. The man's eyes flashed. He was clearly not accustomed to being spoken to with such insolence.

"Watch your tongue or I may be forced to relieve you of the ability to speak."

"Well if that ain't scary, no shit is," Reno grinned up at the man. Ignoring Reno's comment, the man continued talking.

"Before my compatriots and formulate the final stages of Shinra's downfall, there is information we require. Information we are sure you possess."

"But I dunno anythin'," Reno smiled charmingly, but it was marred by a twinge of pain as his head swirled dizzily, "I'm just a lowly hit-man."

"Pretending will get you nowhere," the man spoke calmly, "We know who you are, we know you will have the information we need."

"You don't know me," Reno spat the words out fiercely, not over-looking this particular comment this time, "And I'm not tellin' ya anythin'."

"We know enough," the man smiled with cold assurance, "I have a feeling you will cooperate. After all, you still don't know where your girl is, now do you?" Reno just glared at him, knowing he was beat there.

"Enjoy the rest of your night, well, technically morning," the man began to walk away, "We will begin our questioning early, and that won't be pleasant."

"Damn," Reno muttered to himself, letting his head fall back against the cold stone wall once he was sure the man was out of ear-shot. He had no idea how he was going to get them out of this one. _Screwed over pretty badly this time._ Even as he tried to come up with something of a plan, he could hardly focus basic thoughts as his fevered mind wandered from thought to thought aimlessly. The mako fever was not treating him any better than it had before. Although his skin was extremely hot to the touch, he felt icy cold all over and he shivered frequently. Before long, he slipped into a half-sleep, half-faint state, curled up against the wall in the corner.

* * *

Elena woke up suddenly, jerking up to a sitting position. She found herself all alone in a virtually empty room. She was sitting on a simple bed and the only other furniture in the room was an equally simple chair. A single bulb in the ceiling lit the place and the one door had a thick glass window in it. Within a few minutes, quiet words were exchanged outside before a key was heard in the lock and the door opened, admitting a man dressed all in black like those they had previously seen. The only difference was that this man's face was not covered. Cold, gray eyes focused on her closely and thin lips were drawn into a cruel smile.

"I apologize for the poor accommodations," the man spoke in a smooth voice. It would have been pleasant except for the hard undertones that accompanied it. "They are not fit for a woman, but they will have to do. I trust you suffered as little discomfort as possible during your capture?"

"Is this a joke?" Elena managed to stammer after a moment, confused by his politeness.

"I'm afraid it is not. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience but we simply cannot allow you to go free," the man answered, missing the point of her statement.

"You kidnapped me," Elena decided to be blatantly clear, "Now you're keeping me some place decent and apologizing that it isn't nicer? If you think it will make me cooperate, you're wrong! You're not getting anything out of me!"

"Ah, I see now," the man was quiet for a moment, as if decided how to proceed, "You may not be aware, but here in Wutai we treat women with a much higher level of respect than you are accustomed to in Midgar. Accordingly, we will not harm you. However, we cannot let you go anywhere. You will remain here indefinitely. As for information," the man smiled darkly, "We shall extract all we need from the redhead." Elena felt a chill go down her spine, and she was speechless. _Don't hurt Reno!_ Her heart screamed, but she made no sound.

"I believe that is all you need to know for now," the man rapped a few times on the door, signally for it to be open again, "You will be fed in the morning." The man was gone as unexpectedly as he had arrived. Elena sat motionless on the edge of the bed, her mind whirling. This mission had become too much like the movies she'd loved.

* * *

Reno was rudely jerked awake in the worst manner possible. Not bothering to even call out, they had thrown a bucket of freezing water over him, successfully ripping him from sleep faster than any alarm. Reno cursed and pushed his wet hair out of his eyes, turning angry aquamarine eyes towards the several figures gathered before his cell.

"Good morning," the same man from last night greeted him with a false politeness, "We have a few questions." One black-clad person stepped forward to unlock and open the barred door, while several more crowded in instantly, pulling Reno sharply to his feet and practically dragging him out. A pair of handcuffs were snapped tightly around his wrists.

"So what's the deal here?" Reno questioned lazily, "Ya ask me some dumb-ass question and if I don't answer, ya hit me?"

"Precisely," the man smiled, "You catch on quickly. However there is one detail off. We are not mere brutes. Instead of beating you sloppily, we utilize a more refined…method of obtaining answers." With a nod from the leader, one of the ninjas present whipped a slim, razor-sharp blade out of nowhere. "For every unsatisfactory answer you give us, you will receive a single cut on the hand. We prefer to start at the fingertips and work towards the palm."

Being a Turk, Reno had run in to his fair share of nasty situations, but nothing quite like this. No, these people were far smarter, crueler and more calculating than his normal opponents. He knew he could withstand a good amount of pain, but this still made him cringe internally. _Smart bastards. _The hands, especially the fingertips, were the most sensitive places on the body.

"Just so you understand," the man nodded again to the knife-bearing ninja, "We'll go ahead and show you what we mean." One of the two men holding him grabbed Reno's wrist and forced his arm up, palm facing upwards. Resisting enough to not be giving-in, but also not pulling away, Reno allowed his fist to be opened and, with a quick flash of metal, a deep slit was created across the tip of his index finger. He managed to keep his reaction to nothing more than a twitch.

"Now," the man stood by, calm as ever, "We shall begin our questions."

Reno had no idea how long it had been. He'd ceased to think about time in minutes, or even questions, but in knife-flashes, relatively tiny cuts splitting the sensitive skin on his fingers. So far they'd covered all his fingers entirely in these red lines, streaking his pale skin with bright red. They were working their way over his palms now, still receiving no answers to their questions. They asked various information about Shinra. Names of people responsible for certain projects, information about the security systems and protocol, locations of some of the more secret Shinra facilities, and on, and on. Sometimes the man repeated them, sometimes he moved on at once if he got no response. The man showed no sign of becoming impatient, rather he appeared as if all was going as expected. Reno never spoke a word, except to utter the occasional curse or insult through teeth clenched against the sharp pain, that only got worse with every cut as his hands became more and more sore and sensitive. Although he'd managed to remain silent at first, the pain had intensified enough to draw a sort of hissing noise from him, rarely as much as a weak cry with every slash.

"Well I guess that's all for now," the man said with an almost satisfied tone in his voice, "Seems we've run out of room." Reno's hands were completely covered in small streams of blood now, no space for new cuts. Reno couldn't bring himself to say anything in a secure voice, so he settled for a look, that would have struck fear in the heart of anyone else. As soon as his wrists were released, Reno let his hands fall, trying to keep them from shaking as much as he could. This was not aided by the continued violent shivers that he couldn't control. His wet t-shirt clung to his skin, making him feel like an ice cube although he knew his actual temperature was extremely high.

"Lock him up," the man directed, than spoke to Reno, "You get a break. We'll be back shortly, so don't get too comfortable."

Reno was thrown roughly back into the tiny cell, the metal bars clanging shut behind him loudly. He hit the wall with a grimace and slipped to the floor with his back pressed to the stone. Pulling his knees up, he carefully rested his hands, still cuffed together, against his chest, cringing at the slightest movement since they were lacerated so thoroughly.

"Bastards," he muttered through clenched teeth, leaning his head back and letting his eyes close. He forced his breathing to be deep and regular, trying to rest and gather his strength before they were back. A difficult task considering he had freshly had his hands sliced open and was worried to the point of distraction over Elena, on top of running a crazily high fever that he knew would put him in a coma within a few days if he didn't get an injection of mako from Tseng and Rude who had absolutely no clue where he was, which brought him back to the problem of being captured and tortured.

"This really sucks," Reno somehow felt better saying it aloud, although it annoyed him to find that his voice was weak and a little raspy.

"It's not going to get any better," another voice interrupted his dazed thoughts. A long figure clad in black like the rest was lounging outside his cell, apparently left as a guard. While the others had continuously kept their silence, this one didn't seem to find a problem with talking to the Turk.

"Really? Coulda fooled me," Reno replied sarcastically, "Where's Elena?"

"The girl?" Reno had hoped to get an answer out of this one, but he had no luck. "You sure are pretty interested in her, aren't you?"

"She's my partner, of course I'm interested," Reno rolled his eyes. He guessed this one wasn't the sharpest shruiken of the bunch. "Now tell me where she is!" He was getting desperate. There was no telling when the others would be back, and by then he may have lost his only chance to find out where Elena was.

"We're not supposed to tell you," the man answered, honestly at least.

"Are they hurting her?" Reno couldn't help but ask, even though he knew it might not be the smartest thing. He had to know. He was so desperately afraid she was being hurt.

The man opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a sharp call as the others came back. Jumping up at once, he melded into the group instantly, camouflaged by the identical black clothing. The leader focused his attention on Reno.

"Don't bother trying to get information out of these men," he warned, patient sounding but with a clear touch of danger in his voice, "It will get you nowhere and only lead to strict punishment for you, and anyone who talks."

"Dude, you seriously need to relax," Reno mentioned casually, settling himself to look as comfortable as possible, "What do ya assholes want now? Ya may have figured out I ain't exactly handin' out info here. Then again, I can't expect ya to pick up on that detail, now can I? Wouldn't be fair since ya aren't so bright."

"I believe I have already warned you about your impudence," the man replied, only a flash in the eyes betraying his anger, "Continue being impudent, and you will regret it. I promise." He smiled, a frightening reassurance.

"Yeah, whatever," Reno yawned and looked lazily about. It was quiet for a moment, as the leader watched him in silence with a smug look on his face. Finally, he spoke.

"Get him out. We still have not received answers to our questions."

"I didn't think you were so cowardly," Reno pointed out, allowing himself to be roughly jerked off the ground, "Most of the bastards I run in with are usually man enough to fight me like a man. It's not hard to miss a guy who's bein' held still." The leader actually laughed, a cold, chilling laugh.

"Don't think I don't know what you are playing at. I know exactly what you are doing. This is not the first time I have sought information from someone. I know all the tricks, the mind games, all of it. Don't waste your breath," he moved closer to hiss sinisterly, "You'll need it."

"Whatever ya say, but I still think you're just a pansy," Reno answered, his impeccable poker face completely emotionless, hiding everything he felt underneath.

"You know what, I'm in a good mood," the man remained cool and collected no matter what Reno said, a rare feat, "Let's humor the poor boy. We'll consider it your last wish. You won't last much longer here anyway. Someone get those handcuffs off of him." As directed, the handcuffs were removed, although they still held Reno tightly by the arms.

Reno was mildly surprised, not having expected the man to actually go for it. Adapting quickly, he mustered whatever strength he had in the hopes of not failing miserably.

"Let go of him," the leader ordered, then directed his speech to Reno, "Now do try your very best."

"If I win, will you let us go?" Reno defiantly pulled free of his captors' grasps, who eased into the group of ninjas.

"No," the man replied at once, "I'll tell you where she is though. Better yet, I'll even show her to you." Reno's heart jumped, and he faced off with his opponent eagerly.

"It's a deal."

Taking the initiative, Reno launched a chain of fast-paced kicks and punches designed only to confuse one's enemy so that the final, and strongest, punch would be a complete surprise. It was a move that had never failed the redhead. The ninja effortlessly blocked every single kick or punch, which was fine since they weren't supposed to land anyway. However, the man caught Reno's final punch, surprising the redhead. The man smiled, and squeezed Reno's fist with incredible strength, causing unbearable pain to the hundreds of stinging cuts. Reno cried out, and tried to twist his hand out of the man's grasp. He only succeeded in getting flipped over the ninja's shoulder with lightning speed, thrown down on the hard stone floor with a loud thud. Rolling to get out of reach, Reno struggled to regain the air that had been knocked out of him when the man brought a foot down hard on the redhead's hand. Reno's scream came out as just a gasp since he lacked the breath to project any sound. He managed to free his hand by kicking the man in the back of the knees. Reno jumped up at once, while the man saved himself from hitting the ground with a back-flip. A few more simple punches were thrown and blocked by both men until a burst of pain caused by the fever pulsed threw Reno's body, causing him to flinch and be thrown off guard. This gave the ninja time enough to land an iron fist in the redhead's side, ride in the center of the massive bruise he'd received a day or so ago during the reactor explosion in Midgar. With a shout, Reno curled over slightly as he flew back several feet, smacking into a stone wall. He didn't have a single second to recover before the man was in front of him, a cruel smile on his face and fire flashing in his eyes. A sharp-edged pain burst in his abdomen. Too surprised to make a sound, Reno looked down to find the man rip a shiny knife from his gut, now stained with red blood. Unable to do anything more than cringe and desperately press his hands over the wound in an effort to stem the blood that blossomed profusely from it, Reno looked back up at his opponent, dazed by fever and by pain.

"I agreed to fight you personally, but I did not promise I would fight fair," the cruel smile turned to more of an evil smirk as the man wiped the blood off his blade on Reno's sleeve, "I think I win."

Reno had nothing to say. There was no way he could have won that fight in his weakened condition, even if the man hadn't pulled a knife on him. He was seconds away from collapsing, even with a wall to lean against and he struggled to focus his eyes, a fact observed by the leader.

"Lock him up again, don't forget about the handcuffs." The orders were obeyed without so much as a whisper of sound. They shoved him in the barred door and he staggered the few steps to the wall and then slowly sank to the ground, not caring that the rough stone scraped harshly against his skin. Between the fever flaring up, and his newly acquired wounds, it didn't take long for Reno to pass out, curled up on the ground with his back to the wall. One hand lay over his knife-gash, ironically trying to hold the blood in with a hand that was itself bleeding. The other slashed hand lay limply on the ground, in an effort to keep it from moving or touching anything. Not that it helped much, it still stung like a thousand wasp stings. His hot head was actually gratefully resting on the cold stone floors. As a darkness different from that of sleep fell over him, Reno panicked for a brief moment as he always did when he passed out. He couldn't stand the feeling of being dragged under unintentionally. The feeling was gone soon enough, along with all other feelings as it all melted into darkness.

* * *

Tseng paced across the hotel room, back and forth, his eyes on the ground. Rude stood motionless in the middle of the room, looking around blankly. They'd arrived about an hour or two after sunrise and hadn't been able to get either Reno or Elena on their cell-phones. A little disturbed, but assuming that both were asleep, the two Turks had continued on their way to the hotel. They'd become even more concerned when no one answered their repeated knocking. Finally, Tseng had opted to simply kick in the door in a burst of desperation. Now they were confused and grim.

"Well I don't think they're just out somewhere," Tseng said, "They wouldn't have left their phones or guns." The man cast a worried glance to the mentioned items which Rude had carefully placed on the table.

"And Reno was sick," Rude added, "He wouldn't just go walking around."

"Yes, dammit, there's that too," Tseng shook his head and pulled the syringe and glowing green vial out of his pocket to look at it, "He needs this stuff, and soon."

"Whoa, what's going on here?" Yuffie was standing in the doorway, casting a suspicious glance at the broken door.

"What are you doing here?" Tseng demanded, quickly slipping the mako back into his pocket.

"Must be a Turk thing," Yuffie nodded to herself, "Turkey and his girlfriend asked me the same thing yesterday!"

"That's not his girlfriend, that's Elena," Tseng pointed out, oddly attentive to detail even though he was worried and frustrated, "And maybe we're all asking you because it's a very legitimate question and you should answer it."

"He kissed her," the brunette informed them solemnly, pausing to take in their blank stares before continuing, "I'm here because I seem to be trying to track down the same ninjas they were trying to find. I was coming to check up on Turkey because he was pretty sick yesterday. Now it's your turn! What are you guys doing here? And where is Turkey and his girlfriend?"

"We have no idea where Reno and Elena are. We're desperately trying to find out though," Tseng spoke quickly but quietly as he took the mako and syringe out of his pocket again, showing them to the young ninja, "Because if Reno doesn't get this soon, he'll go into a coma and it's unsure whether or not we can get him out of it. I'm going to assume you don't know much about their whereabouts either. You say you've been tracking these ninjas though? Are they here?"

"Yeah, they're definitely in this town," Yuffie answered, distracted by the glowing mako, "So you've got to like, inject him with that stuff? Wow, that's intense. And weird. Turkey always was a little weird. Hey, why is he sick?"

"We refer to it as mako fever. It happens because of the mako in his system," Tseng explained hurriedly, "So you know they're here? Where in this town? Did they know Reno and Elena were here? I'm afraid they may have run into some deep trouble." Tseng directed his last comment to Rude who nodded, a deep frown on his face.

"So if it's mako that causes the fever, why does it fix it too? That's weird. Why does he have mako in him anyway? Isn't that like a SOLDIER thing? And why don't the SOLDIERS have these crazy fever things? I mean, Cloud gets sick every now and then, but nothing more than normal! Is he going to start getting these fevers? Should I go warn them? Man, this is weird." Yuffie looked alarmed.

"Quit asking so many questions!" Tseng practically screamed, going out of his mind from all the information he was trying to process as well as being bombarded with fast-paced questions of a rambling nature.

"Fine, then you quit asking me questions!" Yuffie crossed her arms and glared stubbornly.

"Look, I'm sorry," Tseng sighed and rubbed his forehead, "Our friends are likely in grave danger right now, I don't have time to sit down and explain Reno's entire situation right now. I need to know what you know about these ninjas. It's very important."

"Is Cloud going to be ok?" Yuffie demanded first.

"Yes, yes Cloud will be fine. Now please, help us out here," Tseng pleaded.

"Ok," Yuffie nodded, "I'll tell you what I know, but it's not much. And I don't know exactly where they are, but I can help you look. I've already searched a good part of the city. You really think they kidnapped Turkey and Elena?"

"Looks like it," Tseng answered.

* * *

"So I noticed ya'll are real old-school," Reno mentioned casually to the ninja he found left guarding him when he woke up. He was focusing on not moving, but he still needed to know where Elena was.

The ninja didn't answer, but stiffened slightly and turned his head minutely, showing unintentionally that he had heard.

"Ya know, classic stone and bars jail cell, handcuffs, knives and shit instead of guns," Reno watched the man carefully, looking for anything that could be of use to him, "Pretty old-school torture methods too. Kinda like goin' back in time, huh? Oh man, and that dude ya'll all listen to? He needs to have a beer or somethin' because he is way too highly strung. He is one crazy little bitch."

"Interesting opinion," the 'crazy little bitch' seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, returning with his usual group of black-clad figures to do his bidding, "Strange, I remember warning you not to speak to my men. I remember promising punishment. Hmm, well I'm a man of my word so we shall have to do something about that. Get him out here." The man watched in cold silence as Reno was jerked to his feet and brought to stand before him. As he was jerked around, Reno grimaced, feeling the movement pull painfully at the gash that had sliced right through his ab-muscles.

"Let me tell you something," the man said conversationally, "We may be old-school as you said, but our methods are, as I'm sure you are discovering, just as effective, if not more so, than the methods you may be familiar with. I personally have a system I have perfected myself. Most who require information simply beat it out of their prisoners. This is so inefficient." The man looked scornful. "I like to get to know my captives. Observe their behavior, perform simple experiments to divine their character. In this manner, I find their weaknesses. And then I exploit them. Much higher success rate, quicker, and more efficient than the standard torture. For instance, I noted earlier that a particular punch of mine seemed to pain you considerably more." The man glanced down at Reno's stomach, a flicker of a smile passing over his face when he saw the soaked patch of blood. "Right here, I believe." The man reached out and firmly pressed his fist into Reno's side, right on the bruise. Reno winced and pulled back as best he could when being held firmly. "Ah, I see I was correct. Now, pardon my curiosity, but I'm very interested in why this is." The man lifted Reno's t-shirt up to reveal the huge black and blue bruise that covered his side, as well as the deep cut that still oozed dark blood. The man let his shirt fall and gave Reno one of his short, cruel smiles. "Intriguing. You may have cracked or broken ribs."

"It's just a bruise," Reno mentioned, unable to shake the worsening sinking feeling as this man talked so calmly about his highly effective torture methods. Reno had never been considered a coward or a weakling by anyone, but this scared him and he could only imagine what dreadful things would happen to him before he got out of this place.

"Yes, it's just a bruise right now," the man agreed, giving a tiny wave of the hand in no particular direction, "What I meant is that you may soon develop cracked or broken ribs." The words were barely out of the man's mouth when one of the ninjas in the surrounding group broke from the background and delivered a powerful kick to Reno's side, targeting the bruised area. Reno cried out and would have hit the ground if not for the two ninjas holding him up. It felt like a lightning bolt had hit his side, and he was positive he'd heard a loud crack. There was a sharp pain now, accompanied by the duller ache of the bruise. This recent development only made it harder for him to breathe.

"Don't talk to my men," the man said very quietly, close in front of Reno, his dark eyes focused on the redhead's glowing aquamarine ones, "Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier. Not a single man I have ever held captive has left here alive."

"Bastard," Reno had resorted to a timeless method of conflict: name-calling. There was nothing to see in his aquamarine eyes anymore but pain, accompanied by a fevered haze. The single word had barely passed his lips before, with a bright flash, the man had sliced a deep cut in Reno's face, right along one tattooed red line. Reno felt the harsh sting burn in his cheek, causing a sharp intake of breath. This in turn irritated the stab wound in his gut along with the slightly older bruise and the broken, he suspected one at least, rib. The eye above his new cut squeezed shut, Reno glanced back at the man in front of him while a single rivulet of blood trickled down his pale face.

"If you insist on being impudent, you shall suffer the consequences," the man stated simply, "You're a slow learner, aren't you?"

"Maybe I'm just stubborn," Reno commented, trying to sound cool and collected. This effect was dimmed by the fact that he was currently struggling desperately to breathe.

"Maybe. I think the problem is that you prefer to learn the hard way," the man smiled curiously before slashing an identical cut along the other red tattoo in another lightning strike, "Just for good measure."

Squinting painfully, Reno stared at the man before him, too dazed by fever and pain to say or do anything. He swayed a little as the leader ordered him to be locked up again. As the keys rattled in the numerous locks on the barred door, Reno heard the man mention Elena. Pulling himself close to the bars with lacerated hands, the redhead found strength enough to shout after him.

"Don't you dare touch her, filthy bastard!" he had no idea where his sudden burst of energy came from, but it was fading as quickly as it had come, "I swear I'll kill you if she gets so much as a scratch!" The end of his yell died off into a hoarse whisper as his knees buckled and he slid down, collapsing in a heap on the ground. His hands trembled, in fresh pain from the recent use. Once again, the cold stone floor felt good to his burning skin, although if the rough surface rubbed against his hands in the slightest, it stung wickedly. Reno was slowly loosing the ability to locate and identify each source of pain separately. They were all melding into one, big, overall hurt. It didn't help that the mako fever was getting worse, one of the symptoms being a pain that constantly throbbed throughout his entire body, from the inside out. He didn't quite make it to fainting this time, although his vision flickered and went shadowy on several occasions. He almost regretted not blacking out. At least then he didn't feel anything consciously. The blood continued to trickle down his face, sliding over the skin and dripping off the edges of his face, leaving bloodied stains behind. Oddly enough, it felt like tears.

_Author's Note: So this is good. =P *sighs* I'm so mean. I promise you that I feel awful writing this stuff, but at the same time I love it. o_O I'm pretty sadistic, but from what I can tell, I think we all are a bit at least so....whatever. Also, oddly enough, since I starting writing this part, I've gotten a TON of tiny cuts and scratches all over my hands. o_O Completely unintentional. I have no idea where they came from, but I have a ton of them! It's so weird! I'm afraid I'm a little too good at getting in my character's heads and now my subconscious thinks I'm Reno and is ripping my skin purposefully! I haven't gotten sick yet though....o_O. Anyway....please reivew! I've actually gotten back to replying to my lovely reviews, so go for it. xD You know you want to. LOL. Next update on Friday! _


	22. Chapter 22

_Author's Note: Another update! Hurray! xD And I still have a bunch written. So I'll probably update again before next Friday. You guys are just lucky. =) So I don't have much to say other than I absolutely loved all your reviews. =D They were wonderful! Keep it up! I actually have time to reply to them now. Oh, I love this story so much. Alright, I won't hold you up any longer! Here's the update, now read it! xD _

Elena sat in the room they had locked her in, knees drawn up on the bed, back against the wall, staring blankly at the floor. Where was Reno? What was happening to him? From time to time, she thought she had heard shouts, but every time it was too short, too far away and indistinct for her to make out. Currently, every nerve was at attention, every muscle tense as she listened intently. She was positive she'd heard Reno's voice this time, although it had only lasted a moment. No one had touched her yet, but they were hurting Reno, she knew it. Her listening was interrupted by voices outside her door, as it was opened, admitting the same man who had spoken to her previously.

"What do you want?" Elena spoke fiercely, mustering up as much courage as she could although she was frightened by the whole situation.

"Hello," the man replied, retaining his cold politeness, "I need you to answer me a question."

"And why would I do that?" Elena replied, every muscle steeled for the answer.

"Because if you supply me with the answer to this one question, completely unrelated to Shinra mind you, I will let you see him," the man's answer was completely unexpected and surprised Elena.

"Seriously?" she questioned skeptically. It seemed too good to be true, but her heart was alright racing at the idea of being able to see, to touch Reno again.

"Most seriously."

Elena considered for a moment, but could find no visible catch.

"So what's the question?" she finally asked, still not decided on whether or not she would answer.

"I would like to know your relation to the redhead, Reno," the man said, standing relaxed but alert, his hard eyes focused on her intently, "What is your relationship with him?"

"Uh," Elena was thrown off by this. The man before her was full of surprises. Despite herself, at the mention of her relationship with Reno, Elena blushed. "You'll let me see him? Talk to him?"

"Yes, you may both see him and talk to him, assuming he is in a position to talk." This calmly delivered statement alarmed Elena. Was Reno so injured he couldn't talk? She had no idea what they had been doing to him, or how far this mako fever had progressed. She didn't even know what to expect from the fever, except that he would go into a coma before much longer. And that scared her more than anything this man said or did to her.

"Alright, I'll tell you," she said slowly, hoping she was making the right choice. She didn't see how the information was all that important. To her, it was definitely worth the trade.

"Before you speak, take care that you formulate your answer with perfect honestly," the man warned dangerously, "It will not be hard for me to detect a lie, and believe me, you will enjoy the consequences."

"I'll tell you the truth," Elena spoke almost defiantly, firmly setting her jaw, but also wondering if this man had been with the group that had captured them. Clearly he would know something about their relationship then since Reno had been kissing her then, "I work with him. We work in pairs. I'm his partner. But…I also love him," her words, though quiet, rang with a tone very near authority, even though she stammered slightly, still not accustomed to admitting her feelings for the redhead. She hadn't even told Reno how she felt yet. "He told me he loved me. Right before your men kidnapped us. I'm not sure if he knows how I feel," she was almost speaking to herself now, frowning at her hands. She hadn't had the chance to tell him, but maybe he'd understood anyway. She did recall kissing him back willingly that night. Maybe he had inferred from that.

"Very good," the man smiled, more to himself than anyone else, "Thank you for your cooperation. If only your Reno would behave as well as you. There are things I must do now, but I promise I shall let you see him soon."

"Why not right now?" Elena begged, "Please?"

"You want to make the most of the opportunity, correct?" the man sounded annoyed, "And right now I believe he has passed out. I shall give orders for you to be brought to him when I feel the time is appropriate. Until then, I expect you to continue your good behavior or I may decide not to allow you this great privilege."

Elena sunk back, wrapping her arms around herself in disappointment. She felt like a child that had been reprimanded. The man had left, but she still dwelt on his words. He was right. She did want to make the most of her chance at seeing Reno. But if he was passed out, clearly he needed her! Someone had to be there to try and make him comfortable and brush that messy red hair out of his face.

* * *

Reno lay there limply, staring with dazed eyes out on the room beyond the bars. It was empty, except for the lone guard, positioned across the room this time. Probably trying to avoid the conversations his comrades had fallen into. Reno's feverish gaze was drawn suddenly to a figure approaching on whispery silent feet. He groaned internally, too pained to make an actual sound, as he recognized the leader of the ninja group, returning once more. He was alone this time, not accompanied by the usual crowd. Showing no acknowledgment for his man across the room, he came to stand before the cell, looking down at Reno with the smug look he wore.

"That girl, Elena I believe it is. You love her, no?" he questioned suddenly. Reno swallowed, wondering how to answer. He knew the answer, there was no problem there, but he wondered whether or not he should speak the truth. His natural instinct was to lie, but something about this situation was different. His sixth sense picked up on minute details he couldn't even consciously recognize and urged him to answer honestly. Cautiously going with this conviction, Reno nodded his head weakly.

"Understandable," the man continued, expecting the answer he got, "She's a beautiful young woman with spirit. What's not to love?"

"What do you want?" Reno glared at the man suspiciously, wondering where this was going.

"Do you believe she cares for you?" the man ignored Reno's rude question and went on with his speech. Reno blinked. In truth, this was a question he had pondered himself rather frequently. She had never said anything to that effect, and had never made any sort of move, but although his memory was hazy he did believe she had kissed him back that night. She wouldn't have done that if she didn't feel _something_ for him, right? He hesitated, unable to answer the man even if he had wanted to.

"Don't worry," the leader interjected, "You don't have to answer. I was just curious. I find it hard to believe that a woman such as Elena would fall for a man like you. If I'm to trust the information I have on you, you seem to hold a peculiar charm for women. They are drawn to you, but can any of them honestly love you? A scrawny street-rat, given a job by a kind Shinra employee. Druggie, binge drinker, chain-smoker, womanizer. I may be mistaken, but last I checked these were not the qualities women looked for in their men," the ninja's voice was calm as ever, but it held a bite to it, found not only in the tone but in the words as well, "A one-night stand possibly, but would any woman want to waste her love on such a …thing? I believe Elena is smarter than that."

"Don't say her name," Reno practically spat out the words in his vehemence. He told himself repeatedly that he didn't believe a word the man said. It was simply psychological war-fare. There was a certain truth that rang through the words though, a doubt Reno had entertained before fate ever threw him into this place and that dormant, almost dead seed was now being fertilized and watered, a quickly growing weed that choked out everything else but itself. "Don't even say her name," Reno repeated, angrily, "And I am not a druggie." He spoke fiercely, defending himself on a very sensitive topic.

"Of course, my mistake," the man smiled, a false, sneering sort of kindness on his face, "But she knows you were. It wasn't that long ago that you were, now was it? She has high standards, and rightly so. I'm trying to do you a favor. I'm trying to help you see the mistake in thinking she could love you. You don't deserve her."

"I know I don't deserve her!" Reno's voice was brought to a shout, although through clenched teeth. He had gotten off the ground by this time and was standing with only the metal bars between him and the man's throat. With the handcuffs on, he couldn't even stick his hands through the bars.

"You'll only bring her pain, Reno," the man warned, smiling almost gleefully at the redhead's disturbed anger before turning and walking away. Reno watched him go, fuming. He was angry, but he knew it was only getting to him because he believed it could be true.

* * *

They left the redhead alone for a surprisingly long time. Several hours passed without a sign of his torturer. The fever had flared up badly, and he couldn't rest, couldn't sleep, couldn't even pass out. He lay shivering, head against the metal bars while the doubts the man had planted in his thoughts raged, harassing him constantly with emotional pain now as well. He vaguely felt the passage of time, and eventually the man returned, accompanied by his usual entourage this time.

"I hope you enjoyed your break," the man said curtly while the customary two ninjas removed Reno from the cell, "Because now we have a very pressing question and I may be forced to resort to more drastic measures if I don't get my answer." Reno just looked back at him, hatred in his eyes. He felt too weak to speak right then. "Take those off of him," the man pointed impatiently at the handcuffs which were quickly removed, "I have one simple question. It requires a simple answer. Where does Rufus Shinra live?"

It was a simple question. It was also a fairly important one. Shinra would be flounder, be weakened for a time, without it's leader. If Rufus was gone, a perfect opportunity to strike would be created. Rufus spent the majority of his time in the Shinra headquarters building. The place was purposefully constructed to double as a stronghold, should the need arise. Most of SOLDIER was there constantly, not to mention the basic 24/7 security employed there. It was dumb to even remotely consider attacking or infiltrating the Shinra building at any hour of the night or day. The best place to get to the President would be at his home, a fact Rufus was well aware of. Accordingly, only a precious few knew where he actually lived. It was a commonly known fact that he owned several houses all over Midgar, but that didn't help much. It was impossible to tell which house Rufus stayed in, or if he even stayed in one of them at all. It was very likely that he had a more secret location to spend his out-of-office hours.

Reno shrugged in reply, faking ignorance of the answer.

"You know very well what I'm asking," the man was showing anger, something new, "If anyone knows where Rufus Shinra's home is, it's the Turks." He was absolutely right.

"I dunno," Reno spoke up this time, looking the man right in the eye defiantly. The man was clearly fuming.

"Change his mind," he said through clenched teeth. Several blades flashed out of nowhere and with an audible slash, cut through his skin in so many places at once Reno couldn't even determine where, or how many new cuts there were. The only thing his mind registered was sudden new pain. Wincing, he instinctively bent over slightly, desperately trying to locate his new wounds. First he saw the deep gash across his right arm. It was dripping blood all over his arm now. Before he had time to fully recover from this attack, the man had an iron hand around Reno's throat and had slammed him against the wall.

"Tell me where to find Rufus Shinra," the man demanded, cutting off Reno's air. The redhead gasped, but still didn't say a word. You could almost see their wills clashing, the tension in the room was so high. Reno started seeing spots and right before he blacked out, the man let go, letting the redhead drop heavily to the floor, practically wheezing for air. He was given only seconds to recover before someone kicked him in the ribs, sending him rolling. Reflexes kicked in, forcing him to curl up protectively but a foot planted in his chest stopped that. Flat on his back, Reno stared up at the leader with swirling vision. Pushing hard with his foot, the man kept Reno from getting his breath back and caused significant pain otherwise. He stabbed a long, cruel-looking knife into Reno's chest, scarily close to his heart. The man deliberately pushed slowly, agonizingly, until the blade had gone all the way through Reno's body, hitting the stone floor on the other side.

"You will tell me where to find that man," he seemed to have regained his calm, although his eyes still held the angry fire. Reno didn't hear him. He saw the man's lips move, but he didn't hear anything but a rushing in his ears. He felt the hot blood gushing over his chest, soaking into his black t-shirt, and then he blacked out.

"That won't kill him, will it?" one of the ninjas asked tentatively as the leader ripped his knife from Reno's chest.

"No, I was careful," the man replied harshly, glaring at the ninja for doubting him, "Put him back in his cell. And don't bother with the handcuffs. He's not going anywhere." With a cruel laugh, the man walked away.

* * *

When Reno woke up, he felt worse then before, but he couldn't remember what had happened. Then he moved. Pain shot through his body, sharp and aching all over. With a gasp, he managed to sit up, leaning against the corner for support. His hands lay limply in his lap, stinging endlessly.

"Shit," he muttered to himself, devoid of all hope. He'd completely failed. Reno had messed up missions before, but he'd always been able to save it some how. It looked like this was it. Between this damned fever and the steady loss of blood, Reno was so weak he could barely move, and both only promised to get increasingly worse. It looked like this was it. _Damn._ He wasn't afraid to die. Death had never scared him. It was living on while your friends died that scared him, and that's what worried him right now. _Elena._ He would have put his head in his hands, if the movement wouldn't have caused intense pain in multiple places. _I'm sorry, Elena._ If he hadn't been distracted, if he hadn't been kissing her then he might have heard the approach of their captors and been able to do something about it. It only proved what he had believed all along: that everyone he loved came to harm because of it.

His melancholy thoughts were interrupted by footsteps as his tormentors came back yet again. He didn't even bother exerting the effort to move his head and look at them. This time, the man and two of the ninjas came into the cell, instead of taking him out. Reno could barely focus his eyes on the man before him, but he easily recognized the cruel, cold smile.

"Ready to tell me where Rufus lives?" he asked calmly. Reno shook his head firmly. "Thought so," the man replied, "I noticed something interesting when we were forced to give you those cuts." The man gestured to Reno's heavily lacerated hands. "Your fingers. They're quite long and seem to have a very excellent and finely-controlled movements. Do you by any chance play the piano?" Reno just looked confused by the man's random query, but being too weak to give his usual smart-ass replies, he settled for a short nod. "Wonderful," the man smiled hugely to himself, "Then I suppose this would be an issue for you." With a sudden lightning fast movement, the man had picked up Reno's right hand and snapped his index finger, breaking the bone between the second and third joints, closest to the tip. This drew a cry from the redhead, as he jerked his hand back.

"Are you going to tell me where to find Rufus Shinra?" the leader asked.

"No," Reno shot back through tightly clenched teeth. Not surprisingly, this answer was unacceptable and the man easily overcame Reno's feeble resistance, taking the redhead's hand back and breaking the next finger, in the same spot. Reno cried out again, the sharp, intense pain too much to contain.

The pattern repeated, and five awful minutes later, the man left the cell, dissatisfied. Reno was left huddled in the corner, not appreciative of the frigid stone anymore since his entire body was now feeling cold as ice. His trembling hands were gathered protectively against his chest, every single finger broken in the same spot. The atmosphere had taken on a distinct nightmare-ish quality. The pain grew, throbbing, burning, stinging and stabbing from every corner of his body. It wasn't long before it overwhelmed his mind, causing him to slip into darkness again. With a groan, Reno passed out, hoping that this time it would turn into the dreaded coma from his fever. It was the only thing that could bring him relief now.

* * *

"Tseng! Rude!" Yuffie ran over to them excitedly. It had been dark for several hours, but still they scoured the city, looking for anything unusual that could help them.

"What?" Tseng asked the young ninja. They had fanned out slightly to look, and were soon joined by Rude.

"I think I found it!" she was practically jumping for joy, "I think I found the secret hideout!"

"What makes you think that?" Tseng questioned skeptically, but he was very hopeful.

"Because it's the one supposedly abandoned building in the town. The people who live her avoid it, which is a good sign for us. No matter how sneaky you are, in small towns like these people are bound to notice if something is up. However, they're also easy to control by fear. It may be nothing, but it's worth checking out!" Yuffie was practically begging at this point, trying to drag both men back to the building she was talking about.

"Alright, we'll check it out," Tseng agreed, following the girl to an old, classic-Wutai style building. It appeared slightly decrepit on the outside, and the doors and windows were boarded over messily. It sat on strong stone foundation and looked like it had once been a formidable place, probably owned by a man of power.

"It doesn't look like anyone goes in there," Rude mentioned, referring to the boards.

"Think again," Yuffie declared proudly, prying at the bars across the front door, only to have them all swing back on a frame, like a door over a door. It was heavy and she struggled to move it out of there way until Tseng and Rude helped her.

"Alright, follow me and be very quiet," Tseng commanded, speaking generally, but staring sternly at Yuffie.

_Author's Note: Yup....so...that was my update. =) Please review and let me know what you thought!!! Hopefully I will get back to you soon. =) Thanks so very much! _


	23. Chapter 23

_Author's Note: Update! Before Friday! Win! So I'm keeping it quick since I'm feeling especially lazy and really tired. Combination for procrastination and complete lack of productivity. In fact, there is so much productivity lacking, it almost becomes negative productivity! Like, I'm being so incredibly lazy that I'm actually un-doing hard work....being negatively productive. =) So now that we've sorted out that important fact....um....I don't know, read this chapter? And like it? Or cookies will die! =P And please review. THANK YOU! (PS - The "he" they refer to in the coming sentences is Reno. You probably would have guessed it, but I just didn't want anyone being confused. That is all.)_

"We're not getting anything out of this one," the ninja leader commented to his right-hand man, "He's almost dead anyway. We'll finish him off in the morning. In the meantime, we might as well let the girl go see him."

"Shall I accompany her?" the ninja asked, always desperate to please.

"No, it won't be necessary. She can't get through those locks and he's too weak to move besides. Just have someone bring her down there and leave them for awhile. Maybe we can make use of his death. Threaten to kill him if she doesn't answer. Hmm. It's an idea. I have plans for formulate though, so I'll tend to it in the morning. Handle getting the girl down there."

"Certainly," the ninja veered off down a different passage suddenly, doing his leader's bidding.

* * *

The door to Elena's room was opened unexpectedly and an unfamiliar man entered, completely clothed in black with only a strip near the eyes showing, just as all the others were clothed.

"Come with me," he commanded.

"Do I get to see Reno now?" she questioned eagerly, hopping up at once to follow the man, her heart fluttering.

"Yes," the man's answer was curt, and he led her quickly through a maze of passages, all carved out of stone. Elena looked around curiously, wondering where they were being kept. The light was extremely dim, and nonexistent in some places. There were no windows so the only light game from single bulbs hanging from the ceiling. They entered a larger room, lit just as dimly. The ninja leading her pointed unceremoniously to a cell built in the wall of this room. It was a classic jail cell, barred door and all.

"Don't bother trying to escape. It won't work," the ninja warned threateningly, before surprising Elena by actually leaving. She didn't waste a second though, running over to the bars, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Reno?" she called out, instinctively in a whisper, on her knees, clutching the bars that separated her from him. There was enough light that she could see his huddled form, laying in the corner, but not very clearly. It was quiet for a moment, but she could hear his irregular and heavy breathing.

"Elena?" his voice was nothing more than a whisper, but not from choice like Elena's, but from weakness, "You're really here?" He sounded hesitant, but there was the same hopeful and happy note in his voice that she felt inside.

"Yeah, I'm really here," she couldn't help but smile, so happy to see him again, "Are you ok? What have they done to you? What do they want?" Reno pushed himself off the ground, sort of sliding the few feet over to the bars slowly and painfully. Elena's heart wrenched with every soft, painful groan that slipped from his lips until he was sitting with his head leaning against the bars, as close to her as he could get.

"What did ya ask again?" Reno asked, his whisper so weak so could hardly hear him.

"Nothing, don't worry about it," she didn't need answers to those questions. She could tell enough just from looking at him. As far as what their captors wanted, well, from the looks of things they weren't getting it.

"Have they hurt you?" Reno questioned, his dazed aquamarine eyes searching hers intently.

"No, I'm completely fine. Apparently they don't hurt women," she said, reaching through the bars to push his hair out of his eyes, "Reno, about that night…were you serious?" She couldn't help but doubt. She knew he had claimed it wasn't the fever talking, but she had to be sure.

"I have never been more serious about anything in my entire life," he answered immediately, an amount of strength appearing in his voice, "I love you, Elena." He reached out a trembling right hand and oh-so-gently touched her face with his fingertips.

"Reno, I was going to answer you then but…well, we sort of got interrupted," she still spoke softly, unable to meet his gaze as she blushed slightly, oddly embarrassed by her feelings as if she were still a young schoolgirl. There was an awkward silence before she just blurted it out, "I love you, too!" She impetuously took the hand he'd stretched out to her. Reno's sharp intake of breath, sounding almost like a hiss, and the weak reflex of pulling his hand away alerted her that she had hurt him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she apologized profusely, letting go at once and trying to see what had happened to his hand.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Reno shook his head, letting his hand fall gently back into hers, "Creative little bastards." She took his hand with exquisite care, although he still winced just from the touch. Peering at it carefully, Elena examined his hand, gasping softly when she saw the hundreds and hundreds of cuts, many of them quite deep.

"What did they do to you?" she whispered, more of a rhetorical question. She reached out to take his other hand, to look at it as well.

"Don't!" Reno warned suddenly, tensing.

"What?" she froze.

"Don't move my left arm. I've been stabbed, near the shoulder. Don't want to move the muscles. I think the bleeding is slowing and I don't wanna mess with it."

Elena was alarmed. This sounded really serious. She tentatively slid her hand up his arm, to the shoulder, passing over at least one gash which made him flinch. Spreading her fingers out, Elena brushed them over his black t-shirt so lightly they barely touched, searching for the wound he spoke of. She knew she had found it when she felt him tense up again, and the fabric under her touch became wet.

"That's bad, Reno," she said, scared. She was able to get an idea of the size and shape of the wound without hurting him by running her fingers over the area impressively lightly. He didn't waste energy answering. Reno needed help soon. Deeply concerned, Elena put her hands on his face, gently wiping away the rivulets of blood that stained his pale skin. Worried as she was, she found it calming to touch him, run her fingers over his face and memorize it by touch. She already knew what he looked like, now she was figured out what he felt like. He didn't seem to mind, simply closing his eye and focusing on breathing. She gently stroked his cheek with her thumb while lifting the messy patch of hair that fell over his face out of the way to check up on where they had hit him with a gun when they were first captured. It had been bleeding at the time, but the wound seemed to have clotted now. She slid her fingers under the parallel red tattoos beneath his eyes, which now had matching cuts as well. She traced his jaw line in silence, eventually coming to his lips. They were soft, warm and delicately kissed each and every finger that passed over them.

"I love you, Elena," Reno mumbled unsteadily, "Whatever happens, I love you."

"I love you too, Reno," Elena whispered, tearing up, "We're going to be ok. We'll get out of here, I promise." She scooted as close to him as she could get, the bars between them a cold reminder of where they were. They sat there in silence, Reno barely conscious and Elena listening with worry to his labored, unsteady, and agonized breaths.

* * *

Tseng stared speechless at the lifeless body that had just collapsed at his feet, right down the hall from where they had entered. He turned to see Rude behind him, a gun equipped with a silencer held in his hand.

"Figured I'd be prepared," Rude explained in the quietest whisper imaginable. Tseng just nodded, grateful and embarrassed that he hadn't been more prepared.

"Guess we're in the right spot," Yuffie commented, "Would've thought they'd have more security. Guess they got cocky since no one has been able to find them for so long. Best part is, they're real hardcore." She smiled deviously, "That means little to no technology. No guns, no motion detectors, no cameras." The Turks nodded in reply.

"Let's go find them," Rude commented, moving on stealthily.

"And hope it's not too late," Tseng said to himself, touching the mako in his pocket, reassuring himself that it was still there.

* * *

"Reno?" Elena said his name, planning on asking about his fever. She got no answer. "Reno?" She tried again, louder this time, concern creasing her forehead. He was still breathing, she could hear it, but he wasn't answering her, and didn't respond at all when she shook him as much as she dared. "Oh, please no," she muttered desperately, remembering what she had been told about him going into a coma, "Wake up, Reno, you've just fainted. Please have just fainted. Come on, wake up!" She pleaded desperately, knowing he couldn't hear her and had no control over his fainting or not fainting even if he could.

"Elena!"

She jumped, whirling around to see who had called her. When she saw Tseng, Rude, and Yuffie coming toward her, her heart leapt.

"Thank goodness," she gushed, trying to keep her voice down despite her elation, "He's hurt, badly, and he's still got that fever, and he isn't waking up now!" She was a nervous wreck at this point.

"Damn," Tseng muttered, getting to the ground and peering at Reno intently. He checked the man's pulse quickly for one tense moment, "Ok. Ok, I think he's just blacked out. We've got to get him out of her _now_ though." Tseng turned his attention to the locks on the cell, which Rude was already examining.

"We can't pick those," Rude commented, stumped for a moment, "Hope no one hears this." He made a split decision and raised his gun, firing a shot directly at the lock. Although there was a silencer on the weapon, it still pinged loudly when the bullet smashed the locks.

"So much for our cover," Tseng muttered, but didn't complain, jerking open the barred door at once. Yuffie had skipped off to who-knew-where, but none of the Turks were concerned with that right now. They only cared about Reno.

"He's in bad shape," Tseng observed, "He's just got bad luck or something." Rude nodded. Reno did always seem to run into trouble. Carefully and effortlessly, Rude picked the light man up. Reno had never weighed very much, but now he was even more skinny because of the recent ordeal.

"Can you walk?" Tseng asked Elena.

"Yeah, I'm fine. They didn't touch me," she answered at once.

"Good. Let's get out of here."

"Hey! Guys!" Yuffie came back at a quiet run, "I found the quickest way outta here. Some kinda back door. It's not guarded…anymore."

"Excellent," Tseng commented and they all followed the young ninja away, just as voices started to be heard coming their way. They went a short distance through stone tunnels at a run, eventually escaping through a heavy door, guarded only by a limp body thrown in a corner, courtesy of Yuffie.

"Are you coming back with us?" Tseng asked the young ninja once they were a safe distance from the building, and able to slow down. They were making their way through the woods to the clearing where they had left the chopper.

"No," she shook her head, "Someone's got to stay close to these guys and find out where they go. They won't be here by next morning, not once they find out their prisoners are gone. I've got to follow them. If you want to find them again, call me!"

"Oh, we will be finding them again," Tseng's voice was dangerous as he glanced over at the redhead, completely limp in Rude's arms, "Thank you for your assistance. We are extremely grateful."

"Yeah, well I may have to call in the favor one day," Yuffie replied, "Hey, I'll grab your stuff from the hotel and watch it until you want to come back and get it. Let me know how Turkey is, ok?" She looked uncomfortable, trying to conceal her concern. As awkward as it was to be partial to any of the Turks when one was in AVALANCHE, no one could help but like Reno. Even though he had an arsenal of annoying nicknames to call her, he was nice enough and had helped her out of a scrape a couple times before. It certainly wasn't romantic interest she had in him, undeniably sexy as he was. To Yuffie he felt more like a slightly estranged big brother: someone you didn't really talk to, but you knew would help you out if you needed it.

"Will do. And thank you," Tseng replied, "Alright, let's get out of here." They had arrived at the chopper now and Yuffie waved goodbye, giving a spontaneous hug to Elena.

"I _knew _you were his girlfriend," she said, grinning and running off into the woods.

Reno groaned painfully as they put him down on the floor, the only place where he could lay flat. Any movement seemed to hurt him, and they tried to be as gentle as possible.

"Be careful!" Tseng snapped at Rude, who was in the pilot seat, taking off. A slight bump had jolted the redhead, pulling a quiet cry from his lips.

"I'm trying!" Rude shouted back.

"Quit yelling!" Elena broke in, bending anxiously over Reno. She held his head in her lap.

"Ok," Tseng was practically talking to himself, just trying to stay calm and keep his thoughts clear, "Before he goes into a coma…" He pulled the glowing green vial from his pocket along with the needle. Within a few seconds, he had it prepared and, carefully holding Reno's arm still, he injected the substance that had caused the whole fever to begin with, ironically the only substance that could save him from it. It produced no visible effect, but all there felt relieved, knowing that at least one of the dangers to Reno's life was out of the way. Tseng carefully picked up one lacerated hand and checked the redhead's pulse.

"Tseng, they kept us apart until that last minute," Elena spoke quickly, trying to impart all knowledge she had of Reno's condition at once, "I have no idea what they did to him! His hands…they're covered in cuts. Here too," she pointed to the gash, dangerously close to his heart, "They stabbed him here."

"His fingers are broken," Tseng interrupted her to state blankly, "Every single one." The man picked up the other hand and examined it closely. "Every single one of his fingers has been deliberately broken." Elena's mouth fell open slightly. There was silence as they all considered the horrific nightmare this must have been. Elena bit her lip, fighting tears as she imagined what Reno had gone through. What other wounds did he have that they didn't know about yet?

"There's not really anything we can do until we get him to the hospital," Tseng sighed, staring at the unconscious Turk before him, "He'll make it." The words were more of an effort at making them, himself included, feel better than stating an actual truth. He really didn't know if Reno would be ok. "We can at least assess the damage," the Turk leader muttered dismally to himself, crouched next to Reno, one knee on the ground. He carefully tilted Reno's head towards him, and then away, frowning at the slits high on the man's cheeks.

Elena was carefully smoothing his unmanageable blood-red hair, pulling back the messy bit that hung in the front to check on the spot where they had knocked him out with his own gun. The skin had broken at the time, even bleeding, but seemed to have healed slightly since. There was a dark bruise, all the more noticeable because of his light, now deathly pale skin.

Tseng continued to look Reno over, checking for rips in the man's t-shirt as a sign of more knife wounds. He wanted to be sure the redhead didn't bleed to death right after they'd managed to rescue him. Noticing the cut below Reno's stomach, Tseng carefully pulled the shirt up, revealing another stab wound. The skin around it was stained red, although the gash itself was only bleeding a tiny bit. Tseng's face was grim as he turned his attention to the large bruise still on Reno's side. With a curious frown, he gently pressed on the area with his fingertips, watching for a reaction. Reno flinched painfully and a small sound, almost like a whimper, escaped his lips.

"Sorry, Reno," Tseng said quietly, moving his fingers over the area while applying slight pressure. It obviously hurt the redhead more than he was already hurting, but Tseng kept on for a second more until he found what he was looking for. "Something's wrong with this rib. Maybe two. They're probably broken. That could be part of what's screwing with his breathing," Tseng mused, putting Reno's shirt back, "If the ribs are broken, they could be poking his lungs when he breathes in. This would easily cause his shortness of breath."

Elena looked horrified. She was already incredibly worn out from her captivity, and her heart literally stung with every struggling breath, every wince or groan. She couldn't even imagine the pain he felt right then and this all added to her fatigue. A tear slowly slid down her face, dripping off her jaw and soaking into her top.

"He's shivering," she mentioned, feeling his body tremble. Without a word, Tseng started digging around, looking for a blanket or something. He found one, and shook the folds out of it, throwing it over the redhead. It didn't help much. Reno's body had way too many other things to worry about than keeping him warm. Oddly enough, his skin felt only a little colder than it should, although he was shivering just as much as when he had the fever still. Elena didn't bother mentioning it. It probably just took awhile for the fever to go away, even after receiving the mako.

"That damn doctor better be in," Rude's voice interrupted the grim silence this time.

"He will," Tseng reassured them again, "I'm sure he will."

* * *

The doctor woke up suddenly, sneezing. He glanced groggily at his clock. _Ugh, five in the morning._ He rolled over and pulled the blankets up over his head. A mere ten minutes later, and he became angrily aware that he was not going to be able to fall back asleep.

"Dammit," the man scowled, deciding he may as well give up and go to work early.

A cold shower and two cups of straight black coffee later, and the doctor was making his rounds through the Shinra infirmary, checking on the various patients that required his attention, most of which were still sleeping. His interaction was solely with the clipboards at the ends of their beds, and he occasionally would glance up, glaring jealously at the injured or sick Shinra employees who slept comfortably in their hospital beds.

He was exiting a room, closing the door softly behind him when a nurse rounded a corner at full speed, sliding to a stop when she saw him.

"Doctor, you'd better come quick!" she looked scared to death.

"What?" he demanded, already following her at a clipped pace, although she constantly urged him to go faster.

"It's the Turks!" That was all she needed to say. The doctor too broke into a run behind her. He was not an easily intimidated man, but a Turk's impatience was no laughing matter. Besides, when a Turk bothered coming down to the infirmary, it was usually serious and as a doctor, it was his job to save lives. Ironically, the majority of the lives he saved where of those who spent their lives killing others.

When he rounded the final corner, the doctor's eyes widened as he slowed to a stop. No less than all four of the Turks approached him quickly, the girl practically jogging to keep up. Taking in the scene instantly, the man groaned out loud.

"Not the redhead again!" he hadn't forgotten the last time he'd seen this particular man. Although he appeared, and actually felt a bit annoyed, he didn't mind that much. As much of a jerk as Reno could be, one couldn't help but like him.

"You need to look at him right now!" Tseng's loud voice was urgent. He pointed to Reno, limp in Rude's arms again. The doctor nodded.

"Right this way," he led them quickly to the ICU, sending the nurse off for more staff to meet them there.

"We're going to need Hojo," Tseng added, quietly. The doctor stopped suddenly, turning to look at them with wide eyes.

"What the hell for?" the doctor looked confused. Having treated Reno and SOLDIERS before, he knew about the mako and it's normal effects. However, he wasn't aware of the strange condition it put Reno in. Tseng filled him in briefly, delivering an extremely summarized version of the situation.

"And we'll need Hojo because he's the only expert on this and whenever Reno gets this fever Hojo has to be involved," Tseng's face and voice clearly expressed how much he hated this, but there was no choice if they wanted to be sure Reno was ok, from a strictly mako-related angle. The doctor just nodded, not questioning a thing. He'd gotten used to being surprised like that. He worked for Shinra. The next nurse they passed was sent to fetch Hojo. The poor young woman was in a complete state of horror, but didn't dare refuse.

"Put him down there," the doctor commanded, pointing to the hospital bed in the room. However intimidating Turks were, this was the doctor's arena and they would respect that, especially when their friend's life was in danger.

"Is he going to be ok?" Elena asked in a quavering voice as they all stood by anxiously, watching the doctor's every move.

"I don't know yet," the man replied truthfully.

Orders were barked out, and instantaneously obeyed by the many nurses in the room. They made short work of cutting the black t-shirt off, fully revealing the many bruises and cuts covering his abdomen.

"He has at least one broken rib," Tseng offered, pointing to it.

"That's the least of my worries right now," the doctor answered, not helping their anxious moods. Things only got worse when Hojo entered the room.

"What have you let happen to my specimen?" Hojo demanded, addressing the Turks but never taking his almost gleeful gaze off Reno. The short man had hardly taken another step when Rude slammed him, full force, shoving the man against the wall and several inches off the ground with Rude's hand around his throat.

"He's not a _specimen_," Rude's voice was frightening enough to make Sephiroth run, crying for his mommy, "His name is Reno, he's a _person_, and you will treat him like one or I will kill you."

"Rude," Tseng obviously regretting having to call Rude off, but where would Reno be if they killed off the only mako specialist there was?

"Brutes," Hojo said condescendingly, rubbing his neck once Rude released him, and walked back over to Reno. The man was careful not to use the word 'specimen' anymore, although it was clear he was not the slightest bit interested in Reno's welfare beyond researching the effects of the high dose of mako. Everyone kept there distance from the scientist. Even the doctor reluctantly backed off, desperate to start fixing the seriously injured Turk.

"Interesting," the scientist mused out loud to himself, checking the redhead's pulse, and glancing over his various wounds. He pulled out a tiny flashlight and pushed the unconscious man's eyelids up with his thumb to examine Reno's aquamarine eyes that stared unseeingly into the distance. "He hasn't gone into a coma yet," Hojo announced, "He's merely unconscious, probably from over-stimulation of pain and blood loss. It could be worse; he could be in a coma." The man smiled, as if this was funny.

"No, we gave him the mako," Tseng pointed out.

"I only gave you half the required dosage," Hojo replied calmly, pulling out an empty syringe, "Enough to keep him out of a coma long enough to get him here, but not enough to cure the mako fever. You didn't think I'd let this opportunity slide without a chance to observe the coma. That would have been wasting priceless data."

"You bastard!" Tseng looked like he was about to kill Hojo himself, but the doctor interrupted before things went further.

"What is that for?" the man questioned, pointing to the syringe in the scientist's hand suspiciously.

"Well obviously I need a blood sample," Hojo pointed out as if the doctor were an idiot.

"You're not seriously considering taking blood from this man, are you?" the doctor took several steps closer, starting to look angry, "Do you realize how much he's lost already? At this point, that could honestly be the death of him!"

Elena turned several shades paler, and Rude forced her to sit down.

"Fine," Hojo grumbled, evidently previously aware of this fact. Now that everyone else was aware of it too, he decided he could live without a blood sample. "I'll have you know that you are standing in the way of very important scientific research."

"I'll have you know that I'm standing in the way of you and this man's life," the doctor returned without batting an eyelid, "Now are you done?"

"I guess that's all you morons will allow me to accomplish," Hojo sighed, taking another syringe, this one full of glowing green mako, out of his pocket. He carefully injected it in the redhead's arm. "That should do it. If there's any problems, let me know." He sounded disappointed and begrudgingly left the room.

"I hate him," Elena's voice was shaking she was so angry. She couldn't believe the things that man had done to her Reno. Everyone nodded unanimously in agreement. The doctor was flipping quickly through Reno's file that someone had brought him.

"Screw the history of addiction," the doctor said suddenly, "He's unconscious from pain. Somebody get a morphine drip in here!" A nurse ran off, quickly returning with the required drug. They got an IV in his arm while the doctor did a quick examination of all Reno's wounds.

"As soon as I've finished here," he turned to the Turks, "You are telling me exactly what happened to him. Somebody screwed him up badly."

Tseng was about to reply when they were cut off suddenly by a loud cry, borderline scream, from the redhead. He tensed up, curling tightly up as a defensive instinct.

"What's wrong?" Tseng yelled.

"I don't know!" the doctor shouted back, as he and the nurses struggled to keep Reno flat on his back so his wounds wouldn't suffer further damage. One hand clawed weakly at his arm, right above the IV needle.

"Take it out!" the doctor shouted to the nurse closest, as he firmly held the redhead's arm still. The woman nodded, wide-eyed, and removed the IV carefully. Reno continued to cry out a few seconds more before it died off, although he remained tense, shaking violently, and breathing shallow, uneven, and fast breaths for several minutes more. They were all baffled, but distracted from this when Hojo unexpectedly came back into the room.

"I forgot to mention," he sounded bored, "You can't inject anything into his bloodstream for at least twelve hours or else it will react with the mako. I understand it's an unbelievably painful process, although it is over within ten minutes after what the injection of whatever substance it was. So to make it easy for you all to understand, painkillers won't work on him right now. They'll make it much worse."

"Get out," Tseng stated simply, not even bothering to look at the scientist.

"Ingrates," Hojo muttered, leaving the room haughtily. Elena impulsively jumped up, ignoring Hojo's horridness for the time, and dashed over to Reno, unable to help herself from placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

"Come on, Reno," she whispered by his ear, hugging his head to her shoulder, "You're going to be ok. We're going to make you better, just hold on long enough for the doctor to fix you up. I love, Reno." No one heard what she said, but they were all watching, a fact she was completely oblivious too at the moment. The doctor looked surprised, and glancing over at Tseng and Rude, he pointed a finger back and forth between Reno and Elena, his eyes asking the question his mouth did not. Tseng nodded simply.

"Hey," the doctor placed a gentle hand on Elena's arm, noting the tears spilling down the girl's face, "He's going to be alright." She nodded tearfully, smoothing Reno's hair out of his face and reluctantly going back to her chair. She was exhausted, from her recent ordeal, nonexistent compared to what Reno had just been through, and the force of her emotions.

The doctor did his best work, moving as quickly as he could while still paying careful attention to each and every injury. He took care of the two deep stab wounds first, both of which had started bleeding again since Reno had moved the muscles surrounding them so much just then. Once he deemed there were no complications with these regarding his attention, the doctor allowed the nurses to deal with cleaning and stitching those.

"At least he's unconscious for now," the doctor muttered darkly, "Can't give him painkillers. Damn, that's going to be bad." He looked at the clock on the wall, shaking his head. Twelve hours was a long time when you were as beat up as Reno. "Someone has a sick mind," the doctor commented, carefully running a cotton ball soaked in antiseptic over the slits on Reno's face.

"Look at his hands," Rude said dryly. The doctor did so at once, and his jaw dropped for a moment before he regained control of himself.

"His fingers have been purposefully broken," the doctor observed, carefully examining the redhead's hands. He had the same horrified awe in his voice that Tseng and Elena had when they first noticed it.

"He plays piano," Elena added wearily, leaning her head on her hand. The doctor shook his head, but didn't answer that, instead giving quiet directions to the nurses on how to carefully clean the cuts on his hands while disturbing the broken bones as little as possible. In the meantime, he turned his attention to Reno's side, determining that there were in fact two broken ribs. A bit of maneuvering that tore a soft, weak cry from Reno's lips, and the doctor was tightly wrapping gauze completely around the Turk's skinny frame, to hold the loose bones in place. An unreal amount of soft gauze went into wrapping Reno's hands. Each finger had to be firmly wrapped so the bones would heal correctly, and then the whole hand and the fingers were wrapped again to protect the cuts.

The whole while he went about this, the doctor kept casting morbidly curious glances at the three Turks watching anxiously. It was clear he was dying to know how this had happened. The few nurses left in attendance looked a little confused and a little frightened.

"Ha, that's funny," the doctor spoke dryly and laughed mirthlessly. He held a strip of the gauze against Reno's skin. "Practically the same shade." It was true. Reno's hair was naturally a brilliant red and, as it went with redheads, his skin was naturally very light. Add a prolonged fever and severe blood-loss to that and you reached an extreme pale.

"Ok, I think we're done," the doctor took a step back, surveying his work with grim satisfaction, "Sure as hell took long enough. I think he broke the record for most gashes at one time. Now," the doctor turned to the nurses, "I'll stay and keep an eye on him until he's stable. Go take care of the other patients." When they had the room to themselves, the doctor turned his attention back to the Turks.

"Is he going to be alright?" Elena asked, her voice tired but loaded with emotion.

"Well…" the doctor hesitated, not really knowing how to answer that, "I can't say just yet." The man clearly did not enjoy giving her this answer, and he looked sympathetically at her as her face fell. "He's suffering from severe physical trauma, some kind of fever, and shock. I've done my best, but I won't really feel comfortable until he's woken up, stabilized, and until I can get him on something for the pain. And then let's hope none of those wounds get infected. For the time being, all we can do is wait. And while we wait, I suggest one of you tell me what exactly happened to him."

"We can't give you all the details. It's classified," Tseng said seriously, "But I will tell you that Reno and Elena were on a mission….out of Midgar, when the mako fever started. Elena called us and we were on our way with the damned half-dose of mako that bastard, Hojo, gave to us. Before we got there, certain…enemies of Shinra attacked and kidnapped our two Turks. Elena, I believe you know better than we do what happened after that."

"They knocked us out," she began, looking miserably over at Reno, "And took us somewhere. It was underground, all stone. They kept us separated. I never saw him the whole time I was there, until right before we were rescued. I heard him though," she frowned, "They didn't so much as touch me, but I they did ask questions. Not about Shinra though, about…something else." She looked away, blushing slightly. They all pretended not to notice. "The man in charge made a deal with me. He said if I answered his question he'd let me see Reno. He didn't let me right away, but when they finally brought me to him, he was barely conscious. We won't know exactly what happened to him unless he tells us," Elena looked over at the unconscious redhead with sad eyes, "But I think we can all figure out basically how it went. They wanted information, and Reno wouldn't give it to them."

The doctor contemplated this for a moment, then sighed and walked back over to Reno, sticking tiny electrodes to the Turk's chest so the machine could monitor his heart rate.

"I believe the fever is passing," the doctor announced, feeling Reno's forehead, "That's one problem down."

The door burst open, and they all turned, prepared to throw Hojo out if that damned scientist showed his face again. They were surprised however, finding themselves facing a slightly anxious Rufus Shinra.

"I just heard you were back," Rufus announced, speaking to the Turks in general but frowning at Reno, "Is he ok? Why didn't you call me when you got there, Tseng? You realize I had no idea what was going on the whole night? Oh, I brought you some food, Elena. I thought you would probably be hungry." He politely handed the blonde a tray of food, clearly brought from the cafeteria a few floors down.

"Thanks," Elena was surprised, but took it gratefully, "How did you know what happened?"

"Hojo came and told me," Rufus replied, "The freak was complaining about being treated like trash, but I came at once when I realized what he was talking about. So, answer my questions! First, is Reno alright? He looks awful." The head of Shinra looked to Tseng expectantly.

"Well, he's been through hell and back," Tseng answered, "And we don't really know if he'll be alright or not. As for what happened," Tseng cast a cautious glance at the doctor.

"Oh, he's fine, don't worry about him. Say what you want," Rufus was more interested in what had happened at that moment then keeping it secret. Tseng quickly filled the President in on what had occurred, in Wutai and back in the Shinra infirmary. Rufus nodded, taking it all in admirably well.

"I would like to say," Rufus sat down and leaned towards Elena, looking at her seriously, "I was never involved with forcing the mako on Reno. It was my father who worked on, and approved that project. Unfortunately, Hojo is a genius despite his…quirks. I am very sorry for all the misfortune this had caused Reno, and you."

"Why are you saying this to me?" Elena questioned, wondering what tied her to Reno in Rufus's mind.

"Because it is blatantly obvious how you feel about him, and I wanted you to know that," Rufus replied instantly. Elena blushed and looked away. "Don't be embarrassed, my dear. He's a good guy behind all the ass-hole attitude."

"I know," Elena answered quietly, a sad smile on her face.

"So doctor," Rufus moved on, getting up and walking to the man's side, looking down at Reno with concern, "Tell me what the problem is from your angle."

"We're dealing with a lot of blood-loss, physical trauma, and the resulting shock. He would have been weak already going into his capture because of the mako fever. This general weakness would only have been made more severe by torture, especially because of that blood-loss. The human body can only take so much. It's true, Reno is different because of the mako so he's so far survived something I wouldn't expect most to survive. Still, he isn't invincible. He's got a limit and he's either reached it or come dangerously close. He's been unconscious for several hours now, a bad sign. I suspect it was caused by the proximity to the 'limit' his body can take. Also, he went into shock which has a tendency to shut the body down. Over-stimulation of pain receptors can do it too. That delightful scientist of yours informed us, a little late I might add, that if we gave him pain killers within the next twelve hours, it would have a reverse effect, only making it worse. He didn't tell us this until after we'd given him an IV. Not a pleasant experience. Right now we just have to make him as comfortable as we can and hope he can pull through it. I'll feel a lot better once he wakes up at least, but once he does, he'll really feel the pain. Whatever happens, I'm not leaving this room until I can safely say that Reno is in a stable condition."

"You're getting a raise," Rufus announced suddenly, "And a bonus if he fully recovers."

"You don't have to bribe me," the doctor commented, "I'm not Hojo."

"I know," Rufus smirked, "It's not a bribe. It's gratitude."

_Author's Note: So, long chapter, hope you enjoyed it. Please leave me a review and feel free to mention anything you thought could have been better or something you'd like to see in this kind of situation or whatever. It helps. It's so hard to avoid being cliche, but sometimes you have to. Some things are considered cliche, but they're only used a ton because they're awesome! =P Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! _


	24. Chapter 24

_Author's Note: So there's a line coming up pretty soon that I thought of when I was taking a shower, random, I know, but the funny part is that it came to me suddenly and I cracked up laughing. So my whole family probably thought I had finally gone crazy....because I was laughing hysterically when I was supposed to be taking a shower. So yes, see if you can guess which line it is. =) It shouldn't be hard, by the way. Anyhow, I don't have as long of an update this time, but you got an extra one and it was super long anyway so ...don't complain. xD _

They all sat and waited. Waited for the redhead to move, wake up, anything other than just lay there. The heart monitor displayed a weak, fluttery pulse, but it was there which was good news to them.

"I wonder what they asked him," Rufus mentioned, apparently having deemed it more important to sit in this hospital room with the Turks and a doctor instead of being in his office.

"I don't know," Elena commented, "But I know he didn't answer any of it. I gathered as much from what our captor said." She sighed and sank lower into her chair.

"Would you like to go home?" Tseng asked her. She was clearly exhausted. "We can call you the moment anything changes."

"No," she answered more strongly than she had intended, surprising everyone there, "No, I'm not leaving. Not until I know he's ok." No one said anything more on the subject.

"His fever has gone away completely," the doctor announced, "That's good. He seems to be stirring slightly. He may wake up soon." As if on cue, Reno's eyelids fluttered for a moment before his eyes opened wide and he instinctively tried to sit up. He gasped, weakly clutching his side and frozen in place by pain. The doctor firmly pushed him back down.

"Stay still, don't move," he commanded. Reno turned his head sharply to look at the doctor, frightened confusion in his eyes.

"It's ok, Reno," Elena jumped up, gently taking Reno's heavily bandaged hands and holding them, "We're safe now. You're in the hospital and we're taking care of you." Reno calmed down once he saw her. He stayed very still, the slightest motion sending ripples of searing pain through his already constantly aching body.

"How do you feel?" the doctor asked, checking quickly on the wounds Reno might have agitated when he sat up suddenly.

"Like I went through a cheese grater," the redhead answered, his voice weak but with the tiniest hint of his usual sarcasm to it, "And then someone ran over me with a truck. Multiple times. And then-"

"Shut up, we get it," the doctor cut him off, "You don't need to talk that much. Might wear yourself out. And you might annoy me." He smiled, obviously relieved that Reno was awake finally.

"Oh, it's you again," Reno completely disregarded what the doctor had said turning his head slightly to look at him, "So I suppose that's why I still feel like shit? You're still goin' on about that history of addiction crap?"

"Actually I had you on morphine," the doctor answered smugly, "For about five seconds until you started screaming and clawing at the IV needle." Reno looked very surprised. "Hojo then came back and told us that he'd forgotten to mention it, but pain killers would react with the mako he'd just injected. So we can't give you anything for the pain for about another ten hours." Reno paled, if it was possible for him to get any paler.

"Dammit," he muttered.

"Just don't move, don't talk, and try to stay conscious," the doctor instructed.

"Yeah, because I was totally plannin' on movin'," Reno rolled his eyes, "That's exactly what I feel like doin' right now. Jumpin' up, runnin' all over the damn place."

"You're a bad listener," Rufus commented, walking into Reno's field of vision with his typical grin, "Didn't the nice doctor tell you to shut up?"

"I suck at followin' directions," the redhead replied, "Watcha doin' here, Rufus?"

"Hiding," the President replied without missing a beat, "Hiding from my corporate responsibilities. I get to sit around in here all day doing absolutely nothing and if anyone asks, or tries to make me go back and work, I can claim to be faithfully sitting at the bedside of a dear hospitalized friend."

"You're full of bullshit," Reno commented, grinning weakly. He closed his eyes and groaned, "How long did that little bastard say I couldn't have painkillers again?"

"I volunteer to go kill him," Rude offered, hopping up eagerly.

"Yes, do that," the redhead would have nodded, but he preferred to keep the level of movement to a minimum as long as his entire body ached.

"No," Rufus quickly interjected, "He's too valuable. He'd probably find some way to come back from the dead and seek his revenge anyway. You'd be screwed then."

"Right, because I'm not already screwed," Reno complained, his face clearly showing the tremendous pain he was in, "I liked it better when I was unconscious."

"Well you need to be conscious right now so I now you're not dying," the doctor stated bluntly.

"They didn't hurt you, did they?" Reno had turned to Elena, who had pulled a chair right up next to the bed by this time. He spoke quieter, evidently blocking the others out for the moment. Despite his awful condition, he still looked concerned about her.

"No, I'm fine," she answered, smiling, just happy to see him awake again, "Just a bit tired. It doesn't feel fair." She frowned at her hands, laying on the edge of the bed and fiddling with the sheets.

"Hey," Reno's voice dropped to a whisper, whether from weakness or just that he didn't want anyone else to hear, she couldn't tell, "I'd willingly do all that over again if it meant keeping you safe." His broken, bandaged fingers stiffly and clumsily semi-closed around hers. He couldn't do much more than bend them slightly without causing himself extra pain. Elena smiled, blushed, and teared up all at the same time, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside while her heart swelled.

"And I'll do whatever it takes to make sure you never have to," Elena whispered back, wishing she could wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his chest, hearing his heart beat and feeling every breath he took while his strong arms held her. For now, she had to be content with simply knowing that his heart was still beating and that he was still breathing.

"Am I allowed to go to sleep?" Reno asked the doctor suddenly, his words slurred and slow. He looked utterly exhausted.

"I guess so," the doctor replied, looking over at him, "The rest will do you good as long as you don't pass out again." Reno nodded, falling asleep within minutes. His breaths still came with a bit of a struggle, but it was better than it had been and his pulse was strengthening, probably the result of going more than a few hours without some new kind of torture.

"Rufus," Tseng said quietly, looking at his cell, "I just got a text that went to the entire security team. They're all panicking about your disappearance." Rufus sighed heavily.

"I guess I have to go back now. I suppose it's a good thing they can't function without me," he contemplated, "Hopefully it means they won't be killing me off anytime soon. As soon as he's feeling up to it, find out what they asked him."

Tseng nodded, and the Shinra President left the room.

"Elena, you really need to rest," Tseng pointed out firmly, "I don't imagine you got the proper amount of sleep during your captivity. I understand you are worried about Reno, but you won't do him any good if you become ill from lack of sleep. I suggest you go home and sleep, even if just for a few hours."

"You'll have to sedate me to make me leave," Elena replied casually, smiling at her boss, but her eyes dared him to keep it up. Tseng was extremely skilled at dealing with stubborn individuals. After all, he'd successfully worked with Reno for years now. He knew when he was going to loose a fight. However, he never went down without causing some discomfort.

"So you and Reno…" Tseng made no further mention of Elena leaving, but his new topic quickly drew her attention and he left his sentence hanging just long enough to make her squirm, "When exactly did you two become a couple?"

"Uh…" Elena was coloring slightly, staring awkwardly at her hand as it held Reno's, "Well, sort of on that mission just now." She spoke quietly, obviously uncomfortable discussing this.

"Intriguing. And how did that play out?" Tseng didn't drop it.

"None of your business," Elena answered evasively. Tseng let it go this time, apparently satisfied that Elena was uncomfortable enough for the time being. _Should have gone home when I told you to._ He smirked to himself.

"Alright," the doctor said, rubbing his hands together satisfactorily, "I think he's ok for now. He could still take a turn for the worse, but he seems to be improving a tiny bit. I have other patients to tend to. If anything happens, you can push this button to call a nurse and have them find me."

"Thank you," Tseng said as the man left the room.

"My pleasure," the doctor replied, shutting to door softly behind him.

The room was quiet as Reno slept. The only sounds were the beep of the heart rate machine, and Reno's shallow, uneven breathing. It wasn't long before Elena fell asleep in her chair, truly exhausted. She still had her hand on Reno's and she laid her head on the edge of the bed. The other Turks nodded off soon as well. They had been up the whole night too.

_Author's Note: So that's actually like half the size of what it was...but there was no other place anywhere near decent to cut off at! It was update with this, or don't update, and I decided to update. So I hope you all can live with the shortness of this chapter. =P Please review and let me know what you think! Thanks so much, you guys are awesome!_


	25. Chapter 25

_Author's Note: Hey! Sorry I didn't update on schedule! was being dumb and was having issues uploading documents! I tried several times last night and it didn't work, and it's still not working now but it occurred to me that I could just copy and paste the text into an old document I already had saved on here. =P I can't believe I didn't think of that before. Well anyway, I wrote about twice as many words as this update this past week, but the rest has no good stopping point, so it will have to wait. =P I feel it only fair to warn you of the level of fluff in this chapter. This past week I've had about nothing on my mind but chocolate and sexy guys, if you catch my drift ladies. LOL, so that explains the suffocating amounts of fluff. Also, a friend of mine and fellow author is doing my a HUGE and AMAZING favor soon so I feel I should try and repay her as much as I can be giving her a mention! So if you guys want to read some good stories, head over to QueenAlla's profile and check her stuff out. I have not had the pleasure of reading all her stuff, but I'm sure it's all good. =P I remember good things about reading her stories, although I don't remember any titles in particular. Probably because I read a lot of them at once and it was ALL good. =P LOL. So that's all for now, I'm sure you just want to get on with reading this chapter. Please enjoy and review! _

Elena woke up suddenly, realizing she wasn't holding Reno's hand anymore. A second later she felt his hand on her head, slowly stroking her hair. As she looked up, his hand slid to rest against her neck, bandaged fingers gently rubbing her soft skin. Reno was staring at the ceiling, a pained expression on his face.

"I thought you were sleeping," Elena whispered, glancing over at the two other sleeping Turks.

"It's no good," Reno answered, sounding slightly breathless as he shook his head, "I can still feel….everything in my sleep and it doesn't make for good dreams."

"Oh," Elena replied sympathetically. She leaned on the edge of the bed, content to simply be near him. Carefully, she put a hand on his chest, having a sudden urge to touch him. Reno turned his head to look at her and smiled.

"I wanna kiss you," he whispered suddenly, "But I can't really move." Unable to suppress the blush, Elena wordlessly leaned over him, bringing her lips down to his and letting him kiss her. She could feel his lips tremble as they brushed against hers softly. He kissed her slowly and gently, savoring every moment. Elena couldn't help but giggle as the beeps from the heart rate machine quickly grew faster.

"I'm still here," Rude interrupted suddenly, his voice amused. Elena jumped, pulling away and sitting back in her chair suddenly.

"Well, that's you're problem," Reno sounded annoyed, "And you can fix it too. There's the door." He nodded his head in the direction of said door, only earning an amused look from Rude.

"I wouldn't be getting your heart rate up if I were you," Rude went on calmly, "You've lost a lot of blood and you've got a lot of open wounds."

Reno muttered something grumpily in reply, unintelligible, but most likely a variety of curses. He cast an angry glance at the betraying machine.

"Also, even if I left, Tseng would still be here," Rude pointed out, looking at their boss who was asleep in his chair. Reno lit up at once, leaning his head up to look and make sure Rude was telling the truth.

"Draw on his face!" the redhead whispered excitedly, completely forget his recent annoyance, "Does anyone have a marker? Please, I can't move! Somebody has to draw on his face!"

"We're not going to draw on his face with a marker, Reno," Rude answered, rolling his eyes but grinning, "We aren't children."

"But it would be awesome!" Reno didn't give up, staying uncharacteristically still. Usually he was extremely energetic, almost hyper all the time, but now it was clear he was making an effort to stay still. It was understandable since practically any movement made something hurt more actively than it already was.

"What would be awesome?" Tseng, like all the Turks, was a light sleeper and their talking had woken him up.

"He's trying to convince us to draw on your face with marker while you slept," Elena answered him at once, trying not to smile.

"I was not!" Reno protested, faking anger, "I was saying how awesome it would be if we got all the paperwork done before you woke up."

"Good then, we'll bring it down here and you can do it," Tseng answered, not falling for it.

"Yeah, I was tellin' them to draw on your face," Reno said blandly.

"I know," Tseng replied, "But you actually reminded me, I do need to go handle a few things in relation to this mission. The threat still exists, and is more dangerous now that they know we're on to them." He sighed, "It's never pleasant telling those corporate bastards we failed a mission. We haven't failed a mission in years…"

"Sorry," Reno muttered glumly.

"It's not your fault, Reno," Tseng spoke calmly, "I consider it Hojo's fault."

"I'm gonna fix it," Reno continued, a suppressed anger in his voice, "Don't you dare send someone else, Tseng. I got dibs!"

"Reno, don't go back there!" Elena pleaded, alarmed, "Please, please don't go back there."

"Hey, calm down," he turned to her at once, speaking softly, "I'm not goin' anywhere for awhile yet, and when I do, you won't have to worry. I'll have all the advantages. It's ok."

"Don't let him go," Elena turned desperately to Tseng.

"I can't promise anyone anything right now," Tseng settled it quickly, "And now I have to go. Play nice." He left on that sarcastic tone. He had been gone a split second when he poked his head back in the door. "But not too nice, for Rude's sake."

"Don't worry, I don't play nice," Reno smirked. Elena blushed, and Rude just stared at the floor.

"I never should have said that," Tseng commented awkwardly, closing the door behind him.

"I think it might be best if I go," Rude said, inching toward the door, "Think you can handle watching him?"

"We'll be fine," Elena assured him, smiling.

"Go start convincing Rufus I deserve a raise," Reno commanded, giving a weak wave. When they were alone, he looked over at the torn and bloodied black shirt they'd taken off him to reach his wounds. "I liked that shirt," he commented regretfully, "I suppose you're the one who convinced 'em to take it off? Fine with me, I'm just surprised ya didn't talk 'em into taking my pants of too. You're so naughty, 'Laney." He poked her arm, wincing and thinking better of this action when his broken finger throbbed more violently. Not surprisingly, Elena blushed. She made a mental note to work on not blushing all the time.

"No, I actually had nothing to do with that," Elena replied, killing Reno's joke, "But I'm not complaining either." She grinned tiredly, leaning back in her chair and yawning. Reno watched her, knowing it was only a matter of minutes before the fatigued girl fell asleep, against her will. He too, was utterly exhausted, but he had trouble staying asleep because of the pain constantly harassing his mind and body. He stayed quiet, wanting her to get some rest. True to his predictions, it wasn't long before she was out, breathing quietly and evenly.

Reno sighed, as much of a sigh as he could manage without causing more pain to his broken and bruised ribs. Pain really was mind-numbing. It had a tendency to sort of take over the mind, blocking out everything else. It made it hard to focus, or think. Your whole world turned into a red-tinted, throbbing world of hurt. He shifted slightly, uncomfortable from staying in the exact same position for so long. The movement was a mistake, utilizing a number of muscles close to many of his wounds, pulling at the cuts and bruises and making him gasp quietly. Gritting his teeth, Reno squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the spike of pain to recede. Getting his already short breath back, he held his hands up in front of his face, watching them tremble there unsteadily. He was too weak to even hold his hand still. They were bandaged securely and completely, covering all those tiny cuts and bracing his broken fingers. He frowned, staring at his long fingers with a growing mixture of anger and sadness on his face. Bastard. He hated that man and his clever torture tactics. Why did it have to be his fingers? Couldn't they have been just as happy breaking all his ribs or something else?

"They'll heal soon enough," Elena's soft, sweet voice broke the dark thoughts he was falling into. He put his hands down and looked over at her, surprised she was awake. She looked sad, and he knew she knew. Still, he lied.

"Yeah, I was just thinkin' about all the paperwork I can get out of," he forcing a smile. It wasn't hard to fake one when he was looking at her.

"Tseng might make you do it with your feet," Elena answered, seeing right through his lie and trying to cheer him up. It worked, Reno laughed, but it quickly turned into a sound more like a cry of pain. His torn up hand hovered over his side, where the broken ribs were.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Elena was instantly remorseful, leaning toward him protectively, although there was nothing she could do. It passed in a moment and the redhead caught his breath again.

"It's alright," his voice was much quieter and weaker than it had been, "Hey, can I have a blanket or somethin'? Or is there some crazy reason of Hojo's why I have to freeze?" Elena hadn't noticed before, but Reno was shivering.

"Yeah," Elena got up and looked around, "It's a hospital, there's got to be blankets around here somewhere. Here we go." She found a couple stacked on a chair. She shook out the folds and tossed it over him. "Better?" she asked.

"Yup," he grinned tiredly, "I prefer body heat, but hey, this will do." Elena's eyes narrowed as she looked at him suspiciously. "Yes, I was implying sleeping with you," Reno clarified, his grin growing.

"It's not funny when you have to explain it," Elena tried to turn the tables on the mischievous redhead.

"Well it's not my problem you're too naïve to get it. Blondie," he muttered the final word as if it were an insult.

"Blonde women are very smart!" Elena defended her hair color fiercely, "And it's not that I'm too naïve, it's that your joke was too vague and dumb!"

"What if it wasn't supposed to be funny?" Reno went on, raising his eyebrows suggestively, "And would you really have liked it if I was more specific? Because I can be, if you want me to."

Elena stammered a moment.

"You win," she conceded, crossing her arms and faking anger.

"I know, I always do," Reno smirked, watching her adorable wrath.

"Jerk," Elena spit her tongue out at him, but there was a flirty sparkle in her eyes.

"Sore loser," Reno had no issue with 'stooping to her level'.

"Conceited."

"Dumb blonde."

"Dumb…redhead," Elena was floundering.

"You're beautiful," Reno doubted she would notice, as preoccupied with coming up with names to call him as she was.

"Oh yeah, well you're…" Elena paused abruptly, just then realizing what he'd said, "Sexy." She said it almost solemnly, making it completely hilarious. Reno tried hard not to laugh, knowing it would only make him hurt dreadfully worse.

"I'm beat to a bloody pulp, lying in a hospital bed, covered head to toe in a blanket, and you're calling me sexy?" Reno questioned, smiling hugely as he tried not to laugh.

"Oh, Reno," Elena spoke almost condescendingly and gave him a knowing look, "You are always sexy, no matter what you're doing. That was probably the first thing I learned from joining the Turks."

"You would have had to come to that conclusion very quickly for it to be the first thing you learned," Reno almost looked a little surprised.

"Well, as unrealistic as it is," Elena's cheeks flushed pink and she looked away shyly, "I'm pretty sure I fell in love as soon as I saw you. You make a hell of an impression, Reno." Now he really did look surprised.

"Really? That's funny…" he mused, "Remember that day, shortly after we met, when I kissed you? Well I really didn't know what drove me to do that…but I figured it out soon enough. I guess I was just…meant to love you."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Elena almost looked annoyed, but she was still extremely happy at that moment.

"Because…I was afraid something bad would happen to you. Really bad stuff always happens to the people I love, so I hoped that if I didn't say or do anything, you'd be ok," Reno said softly, looking down at his hands with a troubled expression, "But bad things still happened to you anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter if you know or not."

"Reno," she put a hand on his arm and looked him in the eye seriously, "Bad things happen. That's just the way it is. As much as we try to prevent it, bad things happen to the people we love. It's not your fault, Reno. Even if you do cause something bad to happen to someone you love, they forgive you. No matter what happens, I'll never be better off not knowing you love me." She saw glistening tears forming in his eyes, and, knowing he wouldn't want to cry, smiled to herself and went on. "If you had said something sooner, I could have spent so much more time kissing you by now." She bent down to kiss him, her blonde hair tumbling around their faces until he pushed it back gently with his broken hands, holding her head lightly enough to avoid hurting himself.

Elena was convinced she could kiss Reno forever. Kissing him was like chocolate: smooth, sweet, delightful. You never got tired of it, and you could never get enough. Yes, kissing Reno was like chocolate, only better. You didn't gain calories from it for one thing.

"Well that's certainly unexpected," the doctor barely spared the couple a glance from the file in his hand. Reno and Elena's kiss ended on an awkward note once again, only making Reno more annoyed than he had been earlier.

"That's the second time today! And it's barely noon," Reno complained about the interruptions, "How many more times are you people going to get in my way?"

"Well that depends on how many more times you're going to make out with her," the doctor answered calmly, "You realize you're not making it any easier for me to monitor your condition, right?" He was examining the read out from the heart rate machine, noting the various periods of increase.

"I'm fine, I'm not dyin'," Reno muttered grumpily.

"Not now you aren't," the doctor agreed, "You could have been though, so consider yourself lucky."

"I do," Reno glanced at Elena, not really referring to the fact that he was alive when he said he was lucky, "Even though I've got this damned mako thing goin' on. It could at least give me special healin' powers or somethin'."

"It does," the doctor commented, "Only not quite on the scale of being a 'magic power'. You heal surprisingly fast, although it doesn't seem to be applying right now. I wonder if there's some disturbance in it's normal pattern because of the fever…" the doctor's voice trailed off as his thoughts wandered away on this topic. Although he was far from having Hojo's fanatical interest in the subject, the doctor was a man of science at the end of the day and it did interest him, thought mostly for the sake of understanding and aiding Reno's case.

"See? It ain't doin' me any good," the redhead complained.

"Well you certainly are moody today," the doctor commented absently.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Reno's sarcasm was just as strong as it ever had been even though he himself was laying in a hospital bed possibly weaker than he had ever been, "Please try and bring yourself to forgive me a little bit of bad mood considered I have recently been sliced, stabbed, shredded, jabbed, snapped, bruised, and….hurt." He glared up at the doctor who simply looked down at him with mild amusement.

"We need to get you on pain meds very soon," the doctor replied.

"Yeah! But guess what? I can't have the damn meds because that dumbass scientist is a jerk who can't keep his fuckin' research to himself! Somebody get me a damned cigarette!"

"We don't allow smoking in hospitals," the doctor said critically, then turned to Elena, "Maybe you'd better kiss him some more." He wasn't really bothered by Reno's rampage except that it wasn't good for him to be getting himself worked up just now. The doctor left abruptly, leaving Reno fuming silently and Elena looking down at him, a mixture of sympathy and happiness on her face. She felt awful for him, but she was still just glad he was alive.

"I think he's right," Elena giggled slightly, sitting gently on the edge of the bed. She leaned over to kiss Reno again, being very careful not to put pressure anywhere else on his body.

"You just wait until I can actually move and breathe without it hurtin'," Reno whispered when their lips parted.

"Why does that sound like a threat?" Elena teased, grinning and feeling a pleasant chill run up and down her spine at these implications.

"I dunno, maybe it is!" Reno grinned wickedly, "You'll just have to wait and see."

* * *

"Elena, you are ordered to go home and not come back until the morning," Tseng had a very clear no-nonsense look on his face when he walked in determinedly a few hours later.

"But-" Elena began to speak, looking upset, but Tseng cut her off at once.

"No," he crossed his arms sternly, "You are going home to sleep and you may not come back until tomorrow morning, after the sun is up." He covered that particular loophole.

"But I don't want to!" Elena complained.

"Oh well that's too bad, because I didn't ask if you wanted to. You are not going to help anyone if you collapse from exhaustion," Tseng remained firm. "Reno is not going anywhere and nothing is going to happen to him. He won't be alone either. Rude or myself will be here at some point all night. Hojo will not even be allowed to step foot on this floor, and we'll give the twelve hour delay on the pain medication another hour as a sort of grace period just to be certain it won't hurt him." Reno groaned in the background at this news. "By the time you are back in the morning, Reno will be on pain medication and feeling fantastic. So go home." Tseng smiled to himself with satisfaction. He'd pretty much addressed every concern Elena could possibly have.

The blonde glared at him for a moment, trying to come up with a reason why she should stay. Unable to, she stood up stiffly, not happy that she'd been beaten in this particular battle.

"Well, I guess that's that then," she leaned over and kissed Reno lightly and quickly on the lips, "Bye, Reno. I'll be back first thing in the morning."

"See ya," Reno grinned weakly, and his eyes flicked over to see if Tseng was watching before he whispered, "Love you."

"I love you too," Elena whispered back, smiling delightedly and then composing her face to an annoyed frown as she walked past Tseng and left the room without another word. Both men watched her go, and then Tseng turned to Reno with a small, amused smile.

"She's got a temper," he commented calmly.

"Yup," Reno replied, feeling incredibly at peace until something struck his mind and his eyes widened suddenly, "Yo, call Rude and tell him to go walk her home. Quick." The redhead seemed fairly urgent about this.

"Hmm, good idea," Tseng pulled out his phone and made the call.

* * *

Elena hadn't wanted to leave, but part of her knew it had been the right thing to do. She needed a shower and a good night's sleep and they would look after Reno just fine without her. That didn't change the fact that she would rather not have left Reno's side. Apparently he wasn't comfortable with her being without him either, because Rude had met her at the door claiming Reno had freaked out and demanded she be escorted home safely. She smiled, his concern making her feel warm inside. Soon enough, the hot water from her shower made her feel warm on the outside, and then a comfy blanket on her bed kept her feeling warm, but that special inner glow stayed, leaving a smile on her face as she fell asleep, comfortable in the knowledge that she'd be back at the Shinra infirmary before long. Back with Reno, where she belonged.

_Author's Note: FLUFF! Had enough? If so, TOO BAD! Because it's not over yet. There's more in the next update! WEEEEEE! Ok, I'm a bit tired so forgive my delirious-ness. xD I hope you enjoyed and please, remember to go check out QueenAlla's stuff because she is being fantastically helpful. =) Again, sorry for the delay of update! I feel terrible! =( Finally, please review. xD _


	26. Chapter 26

_Author's Note: Ok, so if anyone has noticed or gotten confused about the number change on the chapters, that's because I went back and removed any that were just notes. Another quick note, to avoid confusion, I'm just going to go ahead and point out that any time the writing in here is separated by a line or sorts, it denotes a drastic change in time, or a change in perspective. The time part is really more important for the point I'm at now in the story, because I'm too impatient to write the entire healing process in real time, and you guys would get bored of it anyway. =P So I skip a couple days here and there, but you should be able to tell by the line and subtle hints in the actual writing. So yes. xD Alrighty, I believe that is all...please enjoy and review! =D_

"How's he doing?" Elena asked at once, directing her question to Rude who was settled in a chair with a stack of paperwork in his lap. She went straight to Reno though, who appeared to be sleeping.

"Fine," Rude answered, "The doctor started giving him pain meds last night and he fell asleep not long after that. Been out since. I imagine he's pretty much exhausted and he can finally rest now that he's not in pain."

"That's good," Elena sat back in her chair, speaking quietly even though the redhead was sound asleep.

"I'm going to go back to my office to do this," Rude said, motioning to the paperwork he held in his hand, "Now that you're here."

"Go ahead, I'm not going anywhere," she answered, happily watching Reno sleep. His breathing seemed more steady, and deeper now too. He was covered up warmly by blankets, but his right arm, with the IV in it, laid on top. His messy hair fell over his eyes, especially since it wasn't being held back by the usual black goggles. Elena reached out to hold his hand, which lay in an awkward position to avoid putting pressure on the broken bones.

"Good morning," the doctor said quietly, walking into the room with his ever-present clipboard and a pillow tucked under one arm.

"Morning," Elena replied, smiling at the man who could easily be the reason Reno was alive right now, "How is he?"

"Healing well," the doctor answered, "It took awhile for him to start showing improvement, but he's fighting his way back from the edge of the grave now. I apologize if my imagery startles you," the man quickly added, seeing the alarmed look on Elena's face at the mention of Reno and graves together, "Your…friend is extremely lucky. And stubborn. I'm convinced that if he chose not to die, he might just become invincible. But don't tell him I said that. He'd probably go test it." Elena laughed slightly and shook her heard, knowing Reno was very likely to do something of the sort. "I'm just worried about keeping him still long enough to heal properly. Especially now that he's on pain medication, it's going to be a chore to keep him resting before long. And the pain medication is another thing," the doctor sighed, "I suppose you know a bit about his history." Elena nodded sadly, looking down at Reno's calm face as he slept. "To be honest, I don't know what I'm going to do about that. He's got to be on medication for now at least. I'm not letting him suffer through all that without any help. But that could present…issues later." The doctor sighed again, and rubbed his tired eyes. "Here," the man set the clipboard down and picked Reno's left hand up, setting the pillow underneath it and carefully putting Reno's hand back down, making sure all the fingers were kept straight. "I want to be sure those heal correctly. Otherwise we might have to re-break them."

"Should we get a pillow for this one too?" Elena asked, alarmed and motioning to Reno's other hand, which she was holding gently. The doctor nodded.

"I'll bring one back with me later. I have other patients to check on for now. When he wakes up, make sure he stays as still as possible. I don't want any of his gashes re-opening."

"Ok," Elena nodded swiftly, "I'll take good care of him."

"I'm sure you will," the doctor answered promptly, a knowing smile on his face as he left the room.

Elena almost fell asleep herself, sitting silently in her chair. Eventually, Reno began to stir, sleepily bringing a hand up to rub his face. As soon as his sore fingers bent against his face, he cringed, causing the cuts along his cheek bones to sting and pulled his hand away. Blinking his eyes open confusedly, Reno stared at his hand, held up in the air in front of him and bound completely in soft, white gauze.

"Shit," Reno muttered to himself as realization finally came to him. Clearly his mind was taking a bit to catch up and remember what had happened, but it was understandable since he had just woken up and was on strong pain drugs anyway.

"Hi," Elena decided to speak, reaching out and putting his hand back down on the pillow carefully. He turned to look at her, a slightly dazed look on his face, but he was smiling.

"Hey," Reno replied, "How long ya been here?"

"Not too long," she shook her head, "You were sleeping."

"Yeah, morphine really knocks ya out," he grinned, "I feel good." His words were a bit slurred and dragged out and he looked around the room idly.

"You are so high, Reno," Elena laughed, unable to keep a straight face.

"Well at least I'm not…" he began to reply but then his voice trailed off and he blinked, "Dammit, I forgot what I was gonna say. Oh yeah, well at least not on purpose! Well wait…yeah it is on purpose. Umm…"

"I know what you mean," Elena smiled, patting his arm. He looked relieved.

"The effect gets less as time goes on," Reno pointed out, "So enjoy it while you can."

"Ok," Elena nodded, "Did you sleep well?" She didn't really have to ask, but she wanted to see what he would say.

"Oh yeah," he replied enthusiastically, "I dreamed Tseng was a penguin, Rude was…Rude, and you," Reno paused, looking at her with a strange expression on his face, "You were a stripper."

"Oh my," she was quite surprised by this, but intensely amused all the same, "So what happened?"

"We put Tseng in the freezer, Rude did paperwork about it, and you…stripped," Reno smirked, "Good dream."

"Oh," Elena replied, finding the situation a mite awkward and hoping he wouldn't remember either the dream or this conversation. Still, she couldn't help but laugh. Bending over, she pressed a quick kiss to his surprised lips.

"Hey!" he sounded annoyed.

"What?" It was Elena's turn to be surprised. She didn't think he'd be upset with her kissing him.

"That was mean," he frowned at her, moving to cross his arms, and then quickly deciding better of it as the various wounds involved in the motion complained, "It's like giving someone a cookie and then taking it away before they even get any. They're like 'No shit! I got a cookie!' and then two seconds later you snatch it away before they even get to enjoy it! Dammit, I was hardly past the point of realizing what was happening!"

"Oh, I see," Elena suppressed her huge smile, "I'm very sorry, can I make it up to you?"

"Well you can try, but it's going to take a lot," the redhead looked very sly beneath his disgruntled air, and in his drugged state he probably imagined he was being incredibly subtle.

"Alright, here we go," Elena rubbed her hands together and scooted her chair closer, taking his free hand and looking at him very solemnly, "I promise to bake you a batch of cookies as an apology for cheating you out of pleasure." She knew she shouldn't be teasing drugged, hurt people, but the situation was too perfect and she couldn't pass it up. The resulting look on his face was priceless.

"I'm not talking to you anymore," Reno declared stubbornly, like a child, turning his head the other way.

"Suit yourself," Elena shrugged calmly, settling back in her chair and counting to see how long it was before he spoke again. Seconds ticked by in loaded silence.

"Dammit, kiss me!" Reno turned back fiercely, a scowl on his face as he lightly pounded his fist on the pillow for emphasis. As it turned out, this was a bad move and his lips, angrily pressed tightly closed, broke open, emitting a small, involuntary cry.

Unable to resist the combined factors of his shouting 'Dammit, kiss me!' and the natural desire to comfort him, Elena jumped up and carefully smoothed out his fingers with one hand while she put the other gently on his bare chest, bending over to kiss him with all the passion his demand required. Finally breaking apart, Elena kept her face barely an inch from his to whisper a number.

"Seven," she whispered, feeling his hot breath on her face, "You lasted seven seconds of not speaking to me."

"Well what can I say?" Reno whispered back, "I always was bad at denying myself things." Elena smiled, hardly moving to brush the most delicate kiss possible on his lips. The touch was tantalizingly light to his trembling lips that hungered for more.

"Well that was unexpected," Rufus Shinra showed nothing other than a mild surprise as he walked calmly into the room, "So sorry to interrupt. Hmm, you're awake." He sounded less than thrilled and a bit nervous when he made this observation about Reno.

"Yeah, I'm awake," Reno was too drugged to care much about Rufus's poor timing.

"I'll just go and let you get back to what you were doing," the man smiled and quickly began to back out the door.

"Hang on," Reno waved the man over with a shaky hand, "We have things to discuss."

"Really?" Rufus approached almost cautiously, trying not to look Reno in the eye, "I would have thought you really wouldn't want to talk much right now."

"Yeah, my situation does kind of suck right now," Reno smiled, reveling in the knowledge that he was in charge of this conversation, "This is the second time I've ended up in the hospital in the past six months. I hate the hospital, Rufus. I hate feelin' like I've been run over by a truck repeatedly. But hey, somebody's gotta do your dirty work."

"Um, yes, and it's much appreciated," Rufus assured him, trying to end the conversation as soon as possible, "I just stepped in for a moment really, to make sure you were doing ok. And you are! So wonderful, I'll be on my way."

"I deserve a raise, Rufus," Reno said bluntly.

"How about a mild bonus instead?" Rufus attempted to bargain, but he sounded defeated already.

"Ok," Reno surprised the President by agreeing, "I want a Ferrari."

"What?" Rufus looked startled. Evidently the vehicle was easily within the company's means, but Rufus was definitely a lover of money and it hurt him to part with it.

"Black," Reno specified, smiling pleasantly.

"But…that's a bit extravagant," Rufus desperately tried to haggle. Reno sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Rufus, a man with enough followers and brains to blow up two of your mako reactors spent a whole day asking me where you actually lived." The redhead held up his hand and stiffly wiggled his fingers as much as he could, attempting to mask the pain. "The last thing he did before I got the hell outta there was to break every single finger on both hands. Can I have a Ferrari, please?" He carefully kept any emotion out of his voice, although Elena knew was terribly bitter about his fingers especially.

"Yes, you can have a Ferrari," Rufus sighed, giving in, "They wanted to know where I lived you say?" Rufus frowned.

"Yup," Reno looked a tad smug, having won his Ferrari, "Some other crap too just about Shinra. The kind of stuff ya can't hear on the streets. Real interested in you though."

"Hmm," Rufus didn't look the slightest bit unnerved. That tended to be the case when one was protected by the best of the best of everything. "I'll have to get Tseng to do something about this man and his group very soon."

"He's not goin' anywhere without me!" Reno demanded fiercely, "Just hold on. I'll be outta here before long and I'm not lettin' them have all the fun."

"Alright, but if the situation becomes worse we'll have to do something about it sooner," Rufus promised, heading for the door before the redhead dragged anymore promises out of him.

"I'm gettin' a Ferrari," Reno turned happily to Elena.

"Yes, I heard," Elena smiled.

"I'm bored," he complained, switching topic instantly, "Can I get up?"

"Are you deranged?" the doctor walked in just at that moment, another pillow in his hand. He looked at Reno sternly.

"But I've been just layin' here forever! I feel fine! Just a bit tired," the redhead whined.

"You feel fine because you're completely high on morphine, Reno," the doctor carefully settled the other pillow in the same way as he had the first, so Reno's fingers would be kept carefully aligned, "In case you haven't noticed, that morphine is only going to keep you feeling good as long as you are careful. If you start moving excessively it will hurt."

"How do you know?" Reno demanded, glaring at the man. He was naturally impatient and stubborn, and these traits were only intensified by the pain medication.

"I'm a doctor," he replied, "It's my job to know. If you don't believe me, just try and move. See if I'm right." The doctor was easily as stubborn as Reno. He crossed his arms and looked expectantly at the redhead.

Staring challengingly at the doctor, Reno moved to sit up, making it half way before he grimaced and leaned back on his elbow, not making a sound but breathing heavily. His hand instinctively moved over the deep stab wound in his abs, painfully disturbed by the use of the muscles. Frozen sitting half way up, Reno gasped as the pain shot through his sore, bruised, broken, and slashed abdomen.

Shaking his head grimly, the doctor carefully pushed Reno back down, moving the bandaged hands back to their respective pillows.

"If you don't start being careful with your hands, your fingers are going to heal wrong," the doctor pointed out, "There's a chance I could fix it by re-breaking them, but it would be easier for you to just be careful the first time around, no?"

Reno looked at the man and gave a brief nod, a slight sweat, really nothing more than a dampness, appearing on his forehead as the waves of gripping pain subsided agonizingly slow.

"Do you believe me now?" the doctor asked, earning another quick nod from the redhead.

"Why can't you just listen?" Elena asked, her heart stinging with a fraction of the pain he felt. He looked at her and gave a weak nod. It seemed that was about all he could manage at the moment. Once the redhead had relaxed again, the doctor picked up one of his hands.

"I want to see how those cuts are healing," he explained, carefully unwrapping the soft gauze that completely encased Reno's hands, while leaving the gauze that tightly wrapped the fingers alone. "All fifty thousand of them." The doctor spoke sarcastically.

"Probably a pretty accurate number," Reno commented, not appearing to care very much.

"How did that happen anyway?" the doctor asked, morbidly curious. Reno shrugged slightly, careful not to disturb the gash above his heart.

"They wanted to know stuff and I didn't want to tell 'em," Reno replied, "He told me that's what they would do, but hey, we've all figured out I'm a bad listener."

"It's not funny, Reno," Elena complained, feeling scared for him all over again.

"I'm on meds, 'Laney, everything is funny," he commented, grinning hazily at her. The joviality reached an abrupt halt when Hojo walked haughtily into the room. Elena could have sworn Reno turned a good shade or two paler and seemed to shrink back, feeling vulnerable in his condition. Hojo was evidently no match for Reno normally, but the redhead could hardly move without crippling pain attacking every nerve in his body.

"I have an idea on how to make those heal faster, almost instantly, possibly," Hojo announced, pointing to Reno's fingers, "All the wounds actually." The scientist spoke to the doctor, ignoring Reno completely.

"Oh yeah?" the doctor put Reno's hand back down carefully, unwrapped to reveal hundreds of thin, red slits that were his healing cuts, "I suppose this is another of your theoretical experiments?" Hojo bristled, a clear signal that the doctor was right.

"It's true, I have not tried this on anything before, but I have strong reason to believe it will work! And he's the perfect specimen for it!" Hojo argued, speaking condescendingly and with an exasperated tone as if he were talking to dumb children.

"For one thing, quite calling Reno a specimen!" Elena was thoroughly mad with this scientist. She'd only ever heard about him before working with Shinra, but in a short amount of time she'd learned to hate the man. "And you're not doing any experiments on him. Not now, not ever!" Hojo looked at her blankly and blinked.

"Who is that?" he asked the doctor, apparently unwilling to speak to anyone who wasn't even remotely in the field of science. He didn't wait for an answer, cutting the doctor off before he even began to speak. "Irrelevant. What's important is that my theories strongly support this experiment and if it does work it can be extremely helpful."

"Look at him!" the doctor pointed furiously at the redhead who watched the scientist warily, "Does he look in any condition to be experimented upon? Go get some lab rats and leave your human test subjects alone."

"Look, doctor," Hojo glared angrily, not backing down easily now that there were so few present to oppose him, "I have a quantity of liquid mako here," the scientist pulled the glowing green syringe out of his lab coat pocket, causing Reno to flinch ever so slightly from bad memories, "I strongly believe that if I inject this, it will, in very simplified terms of course, briefly 'super-charge' his body, causing his wounds to be healed very quickly. If it works as planned, with no side-effects, this could be used widely throughout SOLDIER. Even you must see it's vast benefits."

"I don't give a shit about vast benefits, you are not experimenting on any human beings under my watch," the doctor stated, getting so angry he turned calm, "Besides, Reno was given an injection of mako before to stop the fever and it didn't do a thing to accelerate the healing of his wounds."

"Of course," Hojo looked annoyed at having to explain this, "This dosage is different. It's more concentrated, and much stronger. It's very close to what was originally administered. You may want to leave," Hojo turned to Elena, "It's not going to be pretty."

"Get him out," Reno's hand brushed against Elena's arm, drawing her attention to his words, whispered through clenched teeth, "Get him away from me." Elena nodded vigorously, and, as the doctor and the scientist continued to argue, she pulled out her phone and sent a brief text.

"Why do you continually insist on impeding science?" Hojo was shouting now, "I was given permission long ago to conduct an experiment on this specimen, and that permission still applies! This is the same experiment, only further down the road! You wouldn't dare forcefully prevent me from doing anything!" The scientist took a deliberate step toward the redhead. Reno looked like he might panic, the combination of not being able to defend himself in the slightest, horrific memories of mako and Hojo in general, and the confusing element added to it all from the drugs driving him mad.

The door slammed open suddenly, admitting a very quickly moving Rude. The man didn't miss a beat. He reached the scientist in a single step and grabbed the man by the collar, turning and literally throwing him out the door all in the space of a second or two. Hojo hit the wall in the hall with a bit of a thud, sputtering and growing red with anger. Reno and the doctor were speechless.

"You will not get away with that!" Hojo almost screamed, his voice oddly high pitched when he was angry. The image was almost comical. "You can expect to be in severe trouble very soon!"

"Go to hell!" Rude shouted at the small scientist, slamming the door closed in the man's face.

"That was timely," the doctor mentioned, his mouth set in a grim line as he calmly went back to his previous occupation of examining one of Reno's hands.

"Elena texted me," Rude explained, "I came as fast as I could. Tseng will probably show up shortly. He'll be wondering why I ran off."

"These seem to be healing well, considering the amount of damage your body is trying to recover from," the doctor procured some fresh gauze to wrap Reno's hand back up.

Reno hadn't said anything, just looking a bit blankly down at his hand as the doctor messed with it. Elena felt his other hand, the one near her, trembling ever so slightly against her leg as she stood next to the bed. Sitting back down, she took it gently but firmly, so as not to hurt him but to stop the trembling.

"What is going on?" Tseng demanded, coming into the room with a confused look.

"Hojo had a new idea," Elena explained, "He was thinking that if he gave Reno a super-dose of mako it would heal his wounds almost instantly. He wanted to see if it would work, and if there would be any side-effects before having it used for SOLDIER. I texted Rude to come help."

"I forgive you for running away from me when I was speaking to you," Tseng said to Rude, than spoke to them all generally, "I suppose this means I have to go do some explaining to Rufus." They all nodded.

"The whiny bastard is probably up there complaining right now," Rude pointed out, "I didn't waste any time getting rid of him."

"No, I'm sure you didn't," Tseng said proudly, "Reno?"

"Yeah?" the redhead looked ok now, just a bit disturbed.

"You're alright?"

"I'm good," Reno nodded quickly, letting Elena hold his limp hand securely.

"Well I'll be off to patch this little incident up," Tseng sighed and walked off determinedly.

"I wish I could hold a gun," Reno muttered, glancing at his useless hands, then frowning as something struck him, "Hey, what happened to our stuff? That we left in the hotel?" He looked at Elena for answers.

"Oh, Yuffie's looking after it for us. She's also keeping tabs on those ninjas so we can find them again," Elena answered, realizing that she too had forgotten about it.

"Hope ya didn't have anythin' shiny in your bag," Reno grinned, "She'll take it in the blink of an eye."

"Well if she wants to dig through my stuff she'll be disappointed," Elena smiled, "Nothing shiny."

* * *

The brunette ninja was indeed looking after their things. After the helicopter had left, Yuffie had returned immediately to the place they'd just escaped from to watch the movements of their captors. It wasn't long before the ninjas were on their way, leaving hardly a trace of their presence. Luckily, they were unnerved by the uncanny escape of their prisoners and in a rush so she was able to follow them quite easily, thanks to her not limited ninja skills. Once she saw them settled nicely into a new town, not far off, Yuffie had gone back to collect the Turks' bags.

"Messy, messy, messy," she muttered happily to herself, shaking her head at the random piles here and there that constituted the things Reno had brought with him. "Now you know this is a woman's bag." Yuffie looked appreciatively at Elena's neat bag. "I wonder…" she unzipped it quickly, just to see what was inside, "They asked me to look after it. The least they can do is let me look at their stuff." She was disappointed to find nothing shiny or sparkly to catch her interest. Yuffie smiled evilly, getting an idea to cheer her up.

Humming cheerfully to herself, the young ninja carefully collected all the lingerie Elena had packed and tucked it away in the bottom of Reno's bag. She then zipped Elena's back up, and proceeded to put the rest of Reno's things in his bag, on top of the lingerie.

"What kind of mission did she think this was?" Yuffie wondered aloud, casting a confused glance at the black lace that was quickly disappearing under handfuls of Reno's things, "Maybe she's just the type who wears sexy underwear all the time…hmm." Yuffie speculated about this deep subject for a few moments more, but it wasn't long before she was distracted by the arsenal of weaponry Reno had brought with him.

"Didn't do ya much good now, did it?" Yuffie smirked, not without sympathy for the man, "Crazy redhead." She stared blankly at the grenade in her hand before tossing it into the bag as well with a shrug. Of all the various knives and handguns left to her care, Yuffie was attracted by nothing, but as she neared the end of her packing, a certain small, plastic, rectangle made her eyes go wide.

"Oooh," she delicately rubbed her fingers over the shiny, black surface of the Shinra credit card that had been given to Reno to cover their necessary travel costs. Needless to say, the credit card found a comfy new home in Yuffie's pocket, as opposed to Reno's bag.

* * *

Reno had spent several days doing nothing more than recovering, and it bored him tremendously. Elena spent all the time she could with him, but she had to go back to working eventually. There were no missions at the time, thankfully, but as always, plenty of paperwork. Reno was impatient, and kept causing himself needless pain by trying to force himself better. Still, he remained in an impeccably good mood.

"I have a surprise," Elena announced, walking into the hospital room with her hands hiding behind her back. Reno looked up, a smile instantly on his face. He was able to sit up now, as long as countless pillows propped him up so almost no stress was put on his muscles.

"You really are a stripper?" the redhead guessed, a smirk playing about the corners of his mouth.

"You still having those dreams?" Elena had become better at not being phased by his sometimes perverted humor, although she still turned quite pink in the cheeks.

"Yup," Reno nodded happily, "Not my fault, these pain meds are crazy."

"Uh huh," Elena laughed quietly, "Well, you didn't guess right, but I'll still let you have your surprise. Ice cream!" She pulled the pint-sized container and a spoon our from behind her back, presenting them to the incredibly pleased redhead in front of her. He actually seemed a lot happier than she had expected.

"Awesome, thanks," he grinned, then frowned slightly, "You wanna open that for me?" While the cuts on his hands were doing much better, his broken fingers would take significantly longer to heal.

"Oh, yeah, let me get that," she opened it quickly and handed the container to him, along with the spoon. He took both of them awkwardly, trying not to bend his fingers as much as possible. Elena settled herself in her usual chair that stayed right next to Reno's bed all the time. Reno stared with his tiny frown at the ice cream container and spoon in his hand before shrugging almost imperceptibly and giving it a shot. Silence prevailed as Elena watched Reno fumble clumsily with the spoon. She spent an intense moment wavering between wanted to help and not wanting to offend his pride, when Reno solved the problem by handing the ice cream and spoon back to her.

"It seems my fingers still aren't working," he commented, doing his best to mask the unadulterated bitterness he felt about this, "You're going to have to feed me because I am going to eat that ice cream." He seemed very determined on this point and Elena smiled to herself as she wordlessly obeyed.

It wasn't long before Reno's attention was brought away from his fingers by the ice cream and Elena's conversation. She was quite amused, for reasons she didn't bother trying to comprehend, by feeding Reno spoonfuls of ice cream.

"I can't even use a damned spoon," Reno went back to the topic of his fingers, which was never far from his mind, "And I hate the hospital."

"I know," Elena sympathized, "And it hasn't been that long since you were in here last was it? It must suck being all…beat up again, and with your fingers broken too this time. Don't you ever feel like life sucks?" She herself was quite depressed for him at the moment. Reno looked genuinely surprised.

"No," he answered, as if it were obvious, "I've got you." Reno's answer was simple, but captured perfectly everything he felt for her.

Elena sat comfortably in her chair, watching Reno sleep. He was regaining his strength well but still required huge amounts of sleep. _He probably doesn't sleep enough normally_, Elena reflected, trying to remember the last time she knew Reno had gotten plenty of sleep. She soon gave up, after tracing all the way back to before the second mako reactor explosion. Critically eyeing his skinny frame, she noted that he probably didn't eat enough either. There was no particular reason why the redhead didn't eat or sleep enough, he just…didn't. _Probably needs someone to take care of him,_ Elena thought happily to herself, having long ago decided that she would do exactly that.

The doctor walked in, interrupting her protective and caring train of thought.

"Oh good, he's asleep," the man spoke in a half-whisper and quickly moved to the arm with the IV in it.

"Yeah, he's been napping for awhile," Elena answered, a little confused about the doctor's reaction, almost excitement.

"I've been backing off the dosage of morphine while he sleeps so he won't know," the doctor explained without her even asking, "He needs to come off it as soon as possible." The doctor gave a short, mirthless laugh, "What he needed was to not be on it at all, but that wouldn't have worked. So we'll have to settle for taking him off the meds early, and backing them off even earlier. I've been decreasing the dose for a few days now and I don't think he's noticed too much. If he does, he'll give me hell. Why do I always get stuck with the problem patients?" The doctor muttered the last part of his speech to himself, finishing adjusting the dosage of morphine.

"Hey," Elena was frowning at her hands, thinking about something she had wondered about for a long time, "You all keep mentioning this 'history of addiction'…" She let the sentence hang there, hoping the doctor would explain without further prompting.

The man looked at her and raised his eyebrows, showing slight surprise.

"You don't know?" The doctor said it almost more as a realization than an actual question. "You're going to have to ask him." He gestured towards Reno who was still fast asleep. "I'm not saying anything about it." The doctor gave her a sympathetic smile and left, leaving Elena a bit annoyed with him. Why did people have to be so…good, right when you needed someone to gossip a little? She had her theories, and a good bit of evidence to go with them, but there was a difference between an educated guess and actually knowing. She resolved to ask Reno whenever he woke up, but then started worrying over how to phrase such a question.

Destiny was not smiling on Elena that day, as Reno woke up within a matter of minutes, giving her dreadfully insufficient time to ponder what to say. Shifting to face her, Reno blinked sleepily and muttered something unintelligible.

"What?" Elena asked, pretty sure he wasn't saying anything important. He tended to mutter random things when he woke up.

"What's the matter?" Reno spoke more clearly now and watched her calmly enough, but closer than he normally did, "You look like somethin's wrong."

"Oh," Elena made a mental note to work on her poker face and, with a bit of a sinking feeling, went on with her resolution, "Nothing's wrong really, I just…wanted to ask you something."

"Well?" he asked expectantly, that bit of a smile that always hung around his mouth growing as he watched her.

"Why doesn't the doctor let you have the normal dosage of painkillers, and why do people keep mentioning a 'history of addiction', and why wouldn't you take even just a normal painkiller when you got that huge bruise after the mako reactor explosion?" Elena spoke a little hurriedly in her attempt to get it over with, but she knew he understood because all traces of his smile vanished after the first few words. He sighed heavily and turned his face so she couldn't look directly into his aquamarine eyes. An awkward, and slightly tense, silence pervaded the room for a few moments.

"I don't suppose it would suffice just to say I was in a lot of shit before Tseng stumbled across me?" Reno didn't sound angry or annoyed at her questions, just regretful with a touch of reluctance. He saved her from having to find an answer to that by continuing at once, "I never really wanted ya to hear this…but I guess it's for the best. I was a dumbass druggie pickpocket. Had learned enough to stay alive in the slums of Midgar, but it didn't really matter 'cause I was slowly killin' myself anyway. I knew it too. Didn't care though. Had nothin' to loose." There were distinct traces of bitterness in Reno's tone, which changed as he went on, showing almost marveling wonder as he looked back on a particular moment in his life. "And then…and then I ran into Tseng that day. You've already heard that story. I like to think he saved my life. Actually I hated him for it for awhile. Everythin' was so easy before. I'd do whatever and just not care. Spent all my time on one hell of a high, knowing it would kill me sooner or later. Personally I'd always hoped it would be sooner." It clearly pained him to say all this, remember it, have Elena hear it. "Hell, I already said I had nothin' to loose. But then…suddenly I did. I had real friends, almost like a family. I had…a home, a place I belonged. And I was so mad at Tseng. Because then it wasn't easy. Ya couldn't just throw it all to hell and do whatever. People cared. And I started to care. A lot of people think they'll be stronger with nothin' to loose, but they don't know shit. I've never been stronger than I am now, when I've got friends, and a home, and someone very, very precious to loose," Reno turned back to look at Elena, his eyes showing a moving mix of seriousness and love. Elena had long since teared up at his story, told in such simple words but with such powerful meaning. She hardly let a second pass once he had finished before she got up and hugged him as best she could, which was surprisingly well taking all facts into consideration. Reno hugged her back, his weak arms holding her around the waist while his face pressed against her smooth neck. She felt him take a slightly shaky breath, and she blinked away the tears from her eyes, not allowing any of them to fall.

"You're not going to loose me, Reno," she whispered, "Not ever."

* * *

"Reno, I have exciting news," Tseng announced, somehow sounding more determined than excited. It had now been a little over a week since their rescue, and Reno was doing significantly better. Elena, as usual, was barely a few feet from Reno's side, settled in a chair.

"What?" Reno questioned warily, looking suspicious. He was sitting up, propped against several pillows for support.

"We made a group decision while you were …detained here in the hospital and we have a wonderful surprise for you." By this point, it was clear Tseng was simply stalling instead of building up hype. Rude had followed the man in and stood by tugging at his collar nervously.

"What?" Reno asked again, narrowing his eyes.

"It's great, fantastic, you'll love it!"

"What the hell is 'it'?" Reno demanded impatiently.

"Rufus decided you needed to move to a new apartment, closer to the rest of us and Shinra," Tseng blurted out, the 'group decision' turning into 'Rufus said', "So while you were resting here we've moved all your things to the new place Rufus picked. He said it was the least he could do."

Reno was frowning and looked annoyed. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Tseng interrupted.

"Yes, we were very careful with your piano."

Reno paused, but then opened his mouth to speak again. Tseng cut him off once more.

"And yes, there still is a brand new Ferrari waiting for you in the parking garage. Rufus has the keys."

"Solid black, shiny, tinted windows," Rude threw in, trying to stave off the redhead's wrath. He'd obstinately stayed living as much in the slums as he could get away with, despite their continued protests. When the opportunity had presented itself, they'd simply taken advantage of it.

"And what makes any of you think I wanted to leave my old apartment?" Reno complained, "I could have moved any day if I had wanted to!"

"You're less than a block away from Elena," Rude pointed out calmly. Reno didn't say anything, actually quite pleased to hear this, but trying to hide it.

"Well, now that that's settled," Tseng moved on quickly, trying to get that particular issue behind them, "How are you feeling, Reno?"

"Fine, I guess," he muttered grumpily. He'd been a little edgy the past day or so, and they all assumed it was because the doctor continually lowered the morphine dosage but none of them said anything about it, since they were still trying to hide the fact from Reno.

"Excellent. Not feeling any pain?"

"I'm on pain meds, remember?" Reno said, not really answering Tseng's question.

"Well, how's that working out then?" Tseng went on, a little awkwardly. Reno paused, and glanced with slight annoyance at the man.

"What are you trying to ask?" Reno demanded, his face clearly showing he knew exactly what Tseng wanted to know, but was going to be difficult.

"Do you think it was a good idea to let you have the painkillers, or will it be more trouble than it's worth in the long run?" Tseng had no problem being more clear, it wasn't his feelings he was trying to protect.

"I dunno," Reno answered evasively, "Wait until the doctor won't give me anymore and see if I go into withdrawal or not." The redhead was becoming increasingly irritable and his words were sharp enough to cut something.

"Alright then," Tseng answered curtly, his temper wearing thin, "I'll just be off then. I have work to do."

"Yeah? Got more houses to shuffle? Playin' musical apartments? Hey, how about you move Rude next! Put him closer to Rufus. Oh, excuse me, _one_ of Rufus's many homes that he doesn't actually live in! It'll be like a decoy. Lure those ninja bastards into thinking they've found the President's real house," Reno went on, raising his voice as Tseng continued to leave, until he was yelling and Tseng was in the hall.

"Reno, be quiet," Elena demanded, exasperated, swiftly taking his face in her hands and pressing a kiss to his lips to shut him up.

"Huh, good idea," Rude stood by, nodding appreciatively at Elena's clever thinking.

"Well, you know, whatever works," Elena mentioned jokingly, sitting back in her chair while Reno focused on trying to still look annoyed.

_Author's Note: So we had some fluff, and some interesting/sad/depressing backstory...fairly balanced chapter. =P Please review and let me know what you think, ok? Oh, one last thing. I shall be otherwise occupied next Friday night, so I will update Thursday night instead. xD Ok, that's all. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! REVIEW! xD_


	27. Chapter 27

_Author's Note: So, here I am! I remembered to update on time, even though I'm doing it a day early, and is actually working correctly! Wow, I guess it's a good day. =P In other news, the fluff-fest continues! xD We have mixed things up a bit this chappie though, so please don't roll your eyes and complain internally. =P Also, I want to apologize about the issues with reviewing the last chapter. It's because I moved them around, so now fanfiction thinks you've already reviewed this one, but you really haven't...it's complicated. Basically, it won't work this time either, but after that it should go back to reviewing just fine. I must say I was incredibly impressed by the lengths some people went to to review anyways! I got a number of messages and reviews on random other chapters. =P It was pretty awesome. So I apologize again for that inconvenience, but it will be fixed soon enough! _

"Let me go. When can I go? Can I go now? Let me go. How about now? Stop poking me and let me go!" Reno hardly paused for breath in his desperate bid to annoy the doctor to the point of letting him leave the hospital early, "I think now is a good time. Let me go. I'll leave and never bother you again, you just gotta tell them I can go. Sounds good? Yeah? Let me go. Please? Can I go? Now? Please?"

"Holy shit, shut the hell up!" the doctor yelled, a vein pulsing on his forehead. He tried to sneak in and out to check on the redhead when he was sleeping, but Reno was catching on and was keeping constantly alert. The doctor hadn't been able to sneak up on him for days now, and it wasn't helping him any.

"I'll shut up if you let me go," Reno persisted stubbornly.

"I can't let you leave until I know you are well enough that your careless attitude will not undo the healing done here where I can keep you still and resting," the doctor struggled to regain his composure, "It's not like you're going to do much without the use of your hands."

"Shut up," Reno shot back, with surprising force.

"Moody little bitch, aren't you," the doctor muttered, not really caring if the redhead heard or not, which of course he did.

"Cruel bastard," Reno returned without the blink of an eye, more at home in an environment where people insulted each other, "If I'm moody it's only 'cause of your dumbass pain drugs." It hadn't taken long for Reno to figure out that the doctor had been steadily decreasing his dosage, and while he didn't technically complain, the natural side-effects, unfortunately heightened by his history, made him extremely irritable and touchy, especially on that particular subject.

"Oh, would you rather I take the morphine away completely?" the doctor asked, ignoring Reno's obstinate and half-hearted struggles as he carefully examined the redhead's long, thin, broken fingers.

"No!" Reno insisted, probably with more feeling than he would have liked, "Then I'd hurt too much. And shut up."

"Well, I can't in good conscious leave you on a full dosage any longer, and if you don't want me to take you off the meds completely, quite complaining."

"I told you to shut up."

"If you are going to talk about your issues with drugs, then you're going to have to put up with other people talking about it too," the man pointed out dryly.

"Just let me go. I hate the hospital. I'm fine, I'll be careful. Let me out," Reno decided to change the topic instead of directly admitting defeat.

"Before I unleash you," the doctor spoke exaggeratingly, rolling his eyes, "I want to be sure your fingers are healed enough to be used gently without causing further damage or any backward progress."

"Well, how in hell are ya gonna know that?" Reno demanded grumpily.

"You'll see," the doctor smiled, a quite unnerving smile from Reno's position, "I'll be back later." The man had finished looking over Reno's fingers and let the hand fall onto the fluffy pillow. With a last enigmatic smile, he left the room, leaving Reno alternately glaring suspiciously after him or turning his head to ignore the man.

"What have you been doing to that poor doctor?" Elena asked, coming in the room moments after the doctor had left. She had seen him in the hall, and figured out that he was not happy.

"Me? What have I been doing?" Reno defended, "Nothing but sitting here helpless in a hospital bed while he poked my face!" Elena walked over to the redhead, trying to look stern, but a smile playing about the corners of her mouth. Bending over, she stroked gentle fingers over his cheekbone, checking out the almost completely healed cut along his vibrant red tattoo. Reno turned his head slightly to the side and remained still to make it easier for her.

"He just wanted to make sure your face was healing well," Elena commented softly, sitting down in her chair and giving him an amused look, "And if you behaved like that for him, things would go much smoother."

"Yeah, well maybe I'll behave for him when he starts bein' as gorgeous as you," Reno returned. The blonde laughed, her whole face lighting up like it always did when she laughed, or even just smiled.

"I wanna go home, 'Laney," Reno continued, more serious now, "Or, well, that crappy new place you guys put all my stuff." He frowned.

"I told them it would only upset you," Elena shrugged, "And it's not crappy, it's very nice. I've been there."

"Whatever, but it's crappy to me."

"Reno!" Rufus's voice reached them from down the hall. The man was shouting and sounded angry. "Reno! You'd better have a damn good explanation for this!" Rufus burst through the door by the time his sentence was finished, followed by a smallish flock of nurses, looking equally distressed and admiring.

"I dunno what you're talkin' about," Reno answered calmly, finding the calm approach to only make Rufus more angry when he was upset about something.

"This!" Rufus shouted, dramatically throwing a paper at Reno, "I ought to sic Hojo on you! Even you can't come up with a good explanation for that!" Rufus smiled, smugly and expectantly as Reno stiffly took the paper in his hands and glanced it over.

It was a printed sheet, clearly an excerpt from a bank statement of sorts. The main body was a list of store names and money amounts, evidently a list of purchases.

"Yeah," Reno replied, dragging the first word out, "I still don't know what the hell you're talkin' about. I'm not involved in this…"

"Oh, yes you are!" Rufus contradicted, "This is a list of purchases made with the company credit card we gave you, against my better judgment! I knew it! I just knew you couldn't be trusted! I understand that you may have wanted to buy some lingerie for your new girlfriend, but an entire lingerie store?!?!?! That's over the top, even for you, Reno!" Rufus began to pace as he got going on his rant. The man was evidently wrapped up in his own little whirlwind of fury, and it took a moment for an extremely confused Reno to get the man's attention.

"Ok, I didn't use that card for anything other than, like, one meal!" Reno pointed out, "And I'm not buying lingerie for Elena, and certainly not a whole store full of it!"

"Oh, oh, you must not have understood," Rufus was under a fake calm as he took the paper and pointed to a particular line, "When a said an entire lingerie store, I didn't mean a store's _worth _of lingerie," Rufus abruptly went to screaming again, "I meant an actual _entire store_! Like a building!"

"I did not buy that," Reno stated calmly. Elena took the sheet and looked it over carefully.

"Mr. President, these purchases were all made after we came back. Reno's been in the hospital all this time, how could he have bought these things?" She pointed to the dates listed next the items. Rufus was quiet, and looked.

"Oh," he said.

"Yuffie," Reno rolled his eyes and sighed, "Yeah, I definitely need to get outta here soon. We gotta get back to Wutai and finish those bastards off."

"And punish whoever is responsible for this!" Rufus demanded, waving the paper dramatically in the air, "I'm off to cancel that card at once."

"You mean that wasn't the first thing ya did?" Reno asked, smirking.

"I was…busy," Rufus tried to look aloof, straightening his black tie, "Busy being infuriated. Quite an exhausting task actually. I think I shall have to spend the rest of the day relaxing." With the sigh of a martyr, Rufus left the room, his mood polar opposite to that he'd come in.

"That was interesting," Reno commented, "Yuffie had better watch it."

"We'll head back soon enough," Elena answered.

"You won't," Reno looked at her sharply, "You are going to stay right here, nice and safe in Shinra headquarters. The rest of us will handle it."

"We'll see," Elena said, decided to save that battle for when the time came. She had no intention of staying behind.

* * *

"Take that, Turkey," Yuffie muttered deviously to herself, making yet another online purchase. She laughed maniacally, and then stopped short with a frown as the purchase wouldn't go through. She tried again and again, but it appeared the magical black card that had come into her hands quite by accident had been canceled.

"No!" she cried dramatically, throwing the useless piece of plastic across the room. Then, deciding that wasn't good enough, she threw a shruiken after it, stabbing it through the heart as it were. With a sigh, she settled back in the massive armchair, soft enough to swallow her if she sat in it for too long. Luckily she had booked the amazing hotel suite for quite some time in advance, so she didn't have to worry about it even though she no longer had her virtually unlimited source of stolen funds. The ninja group had stayed put in this larger town, and she checked up on them several times a day, just to be sure they were still there, but most of her time was spent in waiting.

The young brunette ninja was bored of waiting. She waited and waited and waited for some news from the Turks, but none came. She had half a mind to call Tifa and have her go rough them up, but that would just raise far too many questions and then Cloud would get involved and it would become so complicated. Overall, it just wasn't worth it. She assumed they would contact her when they were ready and in the meantime she would just keep trailing the rogue ninja group like she had been doing. It was in her best interests after all. She just had to keep tabs on them until the Turks came along and saved her the trouble of having to take them out herself.

"Everybody wins," Yuffie commented out loud to herself, switching on the TV and settling herself to wait some more.

* * *

"I'm back!" the doctor announced loudly several hours after his previous visit, "And guess what? It's time to find out how well your fingers are working now."

"I don't want to!" Reno groaned, "It's gonna hurt because you'll make it hurt on purpose!" Elena watched, trying not to get involved.

"I would never," the doctor commented, truthfully, and then smiled, "Fair enough, we'll leave your fingers alone for now. In the meantime, solve this." The doctor tossed the redhead a Rubik's cube. Reno looked the thing over instantly, starting to work on it instantly. He performed the movements required of his fingers with only slight hesitation, but he winced the whole time, occasionally even biting his lip. His fingers worked stiffly and awkwardly, but they were working.

Elena looked on with confused surprise. Reno was absorbed by the puzzle. He had the kind of personality that didn't let him refuse or walk away from a challenge, no matter how insignificant it was. She saw clearly that this was what the doctor had intended all along, and wondered how Reno wasn't seeing right through it. Elena looked to the doctor, who winked back at her and smiled smugly as he carefully watched Reno ignore them all and focus his attention solely on the little colored cube in his hand.

The doctor let Reno work at it uninterrupted for several minutes and then abruptly grabbed Reno's wrist, pulling the redhead's hand away.

"Hey!" Reno protested loudly, reaching with his other hand for the little cube that had fallen into his lap, "What the hell man?" Realization spread across his face as he looked up at the doctor, who was carefully feeling Reno's fingers. "Aw, shit. This is a trick, isn't it?" Reno held up the Rubik's cube, muttering vague obscenities, evidently upset for being duped.

"Yup, it was a trick," the doctor confirmed, letting go of one wrist and grabbing the other. He examined Reno's fingers critically while the redhead waited, impatiently staring at the puzzle. "Good news," the doctor announced finally, finished with his examination, "You can go now."

"Really?" Reno looked up excitedly, "I have a Ferrari to go drive!" He moved to get up at once, but the doctor pushed him back into the pillows sternly.

"Wait. You have to promise to take care of yourself. Take it easy. And before you run off like that, you might want to let me take that IV out."

"Oh, yeah, good point," Reno glanced at the needle in his arm. The doctor was carefully removing this needle when Tseng walked in the room.

"I just got your message, what did you need me for?" the Turk leader asked the man.

"I'm letting him go," the doctor replied, nodding towards Reno.

"Ah, I see."

"Alright," the doctor taped a folded piece of gauze over the area the needle had been in, "You're still going to need pain medication. You'll still be taking morphine, only in pill form." The doctor procured an orange prescription bottle, and handed it to Tseng. Elena was surprised by this for a split second until she remembered that Reno wasn't allowed to hold onto his prescribed drugs. She'd seen the same thing before, last time he'd been in the hospital. It seemed a mutual agreement, but Reno still appeared irked by it.

Tseng looked thoughtfully at the bottle in his hand before he suddenly tossed it to Reno. Thanks to his lightning reflexes, the redhead caught it, even though he'd been looking the other direction.

"Dosage is on the label," Tseng said calmly, and left it at that. Reno looked surprised, then pleased, then concerned, and finally adopted a determined blank look.

"I have a Ferrari to drive," he commented casually, throwing his long, black sweat-pant-clad legs over the edge of the bed and standing up. He hardly swayed at all, and appeared quite in control of his movements.

"You still don't have a shirt," Elena pointed out.

"Well that's hardly my fault," Reno grinned, "And it certainly doesn't effect my ability to drive."

"You're not supposed to drive while on morphine," Elena raised another objection.

"Do you really think it's going to make a difference in the way I drive?" Reno grinned ever more. Elena almost paled, remembering Reno's nerve-wracking driving habits. "Thought so." Reno laughed.

"I'll have Rude get the keys from Rufus," Tseng sighed, pulling out his cell phone.

* * *

"If I had my old apartment, that would have been a much longer ride," Reno grumbled, parking the gorgeous black Ferrari in front of his new apartment.

"Thank goodness," Elena breathed, too glad to be alive to care very much about the strange picture they must be presenting. A black Ferrari, roaring down the street like the devil himself was chasing it, coming to a sudden stop in front of a very normal apartment. And to make it more interesting, four Turks emerge from the vehicle, one shirtless and in sweatpants. Reno stood back to smile appreciatively at his 'bonus'.

"Alright, now to see what horrible things you've done with my stuff," Reno turned to face the apartment. The others followed nervously as he slowly walked through the place, looking over everything critically and occasionally muttering things to low for them to hear. The apartment was nice, luxury compared to where he had previously chosen to live. They'd attempted to rearrange his belongings as close to the original as possible.

"I guess it will have to do," Reno finally stated, not displeased with the place, simply stubborn, "I'm definitely going to have to fix everything. You've put it all in the wrong places. I'm too tired right now. And I want a shirt."

Once Reno had dug himself up some clean clothes, he reappeared in the main room to once more critically look over everything. It surprised Elena that he didn't at once go and inspect his precious piano for scratches since it had been moved without his supervision. Instead, he completely avoided it. Deliberately avoided it, Elena noted with a burst of sympathy.

"What did ya do with all my damn beer?!" Reno demanded, slamming the fridge door shut.

"You don't need it," Tseng shrugged, "We got rid of a lot of unnecessary things." Reno paled. "Like the alcohol and cigarettes."

"I tried to stop him," Rude interjected, "I knew you'd be upset." Reno did look quite infuriated for a moment, but calmed down surprisingly quick.

"Annoying, but I'll live," Reno smirked, "I'll just go buy more."

"You have so many bad habits," Tseng commented with disapproval, "Now sit down before you fall down." The redhead was starting to sway on his feet, not used to being up at all and far from being fully recovered.

"I don't need a lecture," Reno didn't have to be told more than once to sit down, collapsing on the couch, "And there's nothin' wrong with drinkin'. I'm not a drunk!"

"True," Tseng conceded, deciding it would be best to drop the subject. Elena sat down on the sofa next to Reno, who promptly lay down with his head in her lap.

"I suppose you have to get back to work," Reno smiled deviously at Tseng and Rude, "I'm just gonna stay here and take it easy. Probably watch TV and stuff. Elena's gonna need the day off though 'cause I gotta be watched by somebody. Besides, I'm using her as a pillow right now."

"Remember not to hurt yourself," Tseng said wryly, "Most activity is probably going to hurt something, so I strongly recommend you stay very still."

"Right," Reno was clearly blowing the man off, "Can I have that?" He pointed to the TV remote on the low table in front of the couch. Elena leaned forward and got it for him while the other two Turks left. She played with his hair, brushing it out of his face.

"Got anythin' ya wanna watch?" Reno asked, looking up at her with his bright aquamarine eyes that showed tiredness.

"Not really, you?"

"Nah, I think I'm about to fall asleep."

"Well, what did you keep me here for?" Elena teased, tugging playfully on a lock of brilliant red hair.

"I'm goin' to wake up," Reno pointed out as if it was the most obvious thing ever, "And I just want ya here. I got a feelin' I'll sleep better that way…" his voice trailed off as his eyes closed sleepily. Elena smiled, and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and tossed it over him. It wasn't long until she too, perfectly content where she was, dozed off.

* * *

Elena was woken up slowly, by music, seemingly distant in her half-asleep state of mind. It was clumsy and halting, with many, many mistakes, but identifiable as music and not noise nonetheless. Still confused about whether she was awake or asleep, Elena felt sad and didn't know why. After a particularly bad string of mistakes, she was fully awakened by a frustrated string of curses, a rough bang on piano keys, and a muttered 'ow'. Blinking her eyes open, she remembered where she was and noticed Reno was no longer asleep on the couch with her but sitting in front of his piano, shoulders sharply slumped.

Elena got up and went over to him, wrapping her arms around him from behind. She put her head on his shoulder and kissed his cheek.

"Your fingers are not better," she whispered, "You have to let them heal before they'll play right again." He nodded, but was silent. They sat like that for a few moments more before Reno spoke.

"I just remembered somethin' I promised myself I was gonna do," Reno stood up and turned around, taking Elena carefully in his arms, not for her sake but for his. He still had a broken rib and a deep knife wound in his gut, not to mention the stab right above his heart. Simply holding her for a moment, Reno took a step forwards, moving her backwards until she felt her back press against a wall. His arms around her thin waist protectively, Reno kissed her 'properly' as he would say. He held her close to his body, relishing the ability to do so after all that time stuck in a hospital bed.

Elena felt a tingle run up and down her spine as she melted in Reno's arms. Her hands were pressed flat against his chest, careful to avoid the healing wound above his heart. When Reno eventually pulled away, he rested his forehead gently against hers and grinned.

"No one interrupted us this time," he whispered.

"Nope," Elena couldn't help but giggle slightly, feeling utterly warm and fuzzy on the inside as she let her hands slide down to rest near his stomach, frowning almost imperceptibly when she realized how easy it was for her to feel his ribs.

"Don't frown," Reno commanded, still in a whisper, kissing her forehead and hugging her tightly.

"It's just that you're so thin!" she remarked, "Are you hungry? I can cook you something."

"Nah, I'm not hungry. I do wanna sit down though," Reno had been allowed to leave the hospital and had constantly protested that he felt fine, but he still became tired much faster than normal. Settling himself on the couch and putting his arm around Elena who cuddled up next to him, Reno pulled the bottle of morphine pills out of his pants' pocket.

"Let's see here," Reno quickly read the small label, and then looked around for a clock, "Ya got the time, 'Laney?"

"It's about five," she answered, watching him.

"Ok…I have no idea when I left the hospital. Here, you figure it out," Reno abruptly handed her the little bottle, "I dunno when I'm supposed to take one of those."

"Well, are you in pain?" Elena asked for starters, reading the label carefully.

"Yes," the redhead answered without having to pause and think.

"You can have one now, and then one more every four to six hours. I'll get you a glass of water," she handed him one of the blue pills and began to hop up.

"Don't bother," Reno popped the pill in his mouth and swallowed it dry, no problem. Elena tried to hand the bottle back to him, put he shook his head and pointed to the table. "Just leave it there."

The two Turks spent the next few hours on the couch, the TV on but only occasionally watching it. Mostly they were just enjoying being together.

"It's late," Elena yawned, her head resting comfortably on Reno's shoulder, "I need to go." Reno's bright aquamarine eyes focused on her, a million things visible in them, but he said none of it.

"But I can't walk you home," he pointed out slyly.

"I think I can make it a block on my own," Elena assured him with a teasing smile, "And besides, I'm sure Rude or Tseng or maybe both are watching. They'd better see me leave."

"I don't give a damn what they see," Reno said, with a mischievous grin, "At least let me kiss you good-bye." Elena had no reason to refuse him this, and she ended up spending a good five extra minutes on the couch before he finally let her go.

"I'll be back in the morning," she promised, "And I'll make you some breakfast before I have to go to work."

"'Night, 'Lena," Reno smiled, watching her slip out.

* * *

Elena was up a bit earlier than usual, trying to allow time to spend with Reno before she had to go to work. She had promised to make him breakfast after all. As she walked to his apartment, wonderfully close to hers, she called him to see if he was awake. He didn't pick up, but she didn't think much of it. He was probably just asleep. It was about as nice of a day as it was ever going to be in grey Midgar. The sun was rising, but could never be seen unless it was directly overhead because of all the tall buildings in the city. The effect produced was a dim lighting throughout the streets.

Luckily, Tseng had entrusted her with the spare key, otherwise she probably would have been stuck outside until Reno woke up, and who knew when that would be!

"Good morning, Reno!" she called cheerfully, letting herself in. She was greeted by silence. She decided to get breakfast cooking before attempting to wake him up.

Once some bacon was sizzling deliciously on the stove, the smell wafting throughout the apartment, Elena decided to risk waking the redhead up. Looking around the place more intently, Elena discovered it was fairly easy to see what he had done after she left by the actual trail he left. First of all, the painkillers were exactly in the same spot she had left them, untouched.

"He should haven taken more during the night," she muttered to herself, taking the bottle with her, "He's going to be hurting now." Becoming more and more hesitant, she followed a trail of clothes, the same he'd been wearing the day before, all the way to the bathroom. "Shower," Elena noted, looking at the towel abandoned in the doorway to his bedroom.

Due to the number of dropped clothing items, Elena was starting to second-guess her decision to show up unannounced. The first thing she noticed from the open bedroom doorway though was the open and messy dresser drawers. He'd hadn't been like that before, so she assumed he'd gotten some clean clothes.

"Pants at least," Elena whispered to herself, finally noticing Reno himself, laying on his stomach in the exact middle of his king-sized bed, sheets covering most of him except his bare back and shoulders. "Maybe." She sat on the bed, feet hanging over the edge and leaned back at an angle on her elbows, so she ended up next to him. He was definitely asleep, breathing slowly and steadily, hands carefully set on top of the pillow above his head. His face was turned toward her, mostly covered by his messy blood-red hair. She rolled over onto her stomach and her forehead wrinkled slightly as she noticed the long scar that stretched from one of his strong shoulders to his hip on the opposite side. It didn't stand out much against his naturally pale skin.

"Reno," she whispered, trying to wake him up gently. She reached her hand out and touched him experimentally, letting it rest in between his shoulder blades. His skin was warm and smooth. He stirred ever so slightly at her touch, but didn't wake up. "Reno," she said again, dragging it out with a playful tone. She started running a finger slowly down his spine, but only got about halfway before he shivered and frowned, mumbling something and tensing his muscles. The slight movements produced wonderful, strong ripples of muscle across his back. She bent down and ever so gently kissed the back of his neck, her hair falling from behind her ears and tickling him. Reno almost jumped this time, giving some kind of sleepy exclamation and turning his head to look at the blonde girl hovering over him.

"Wha….'Laney?" he mumbled, still half asleep.

"Yup, it's me," she replied, gently brushing his hair out of his face, "Good morning."

"Well, it's not exactly the same scenario that I imagined would end with me waking up next to you," Reno smirked, "But it will do."

"Oh, shush," Elena turned pink, only making herself ten times more adorable in Reno's eyes, "Did you take your meds last night? You should have had one every four hours last night. When did you last take one?"

"Uh, when you were here," Reno answered.

"Irresponsible," Elena teased, although she imagined he would simply rather not touch them on his own, "Well you must be in pain now."

"Yeah," Reno said, his voice more than a little strained as he rolled over onto his back with a grimace, "Remind me not to sleep on my stomach until all this heals."

"I'll try. Here's your painkiller," she handed him one of the pills, which he took and swallowed quickly.

"Why is bacon burning?" he asked, an innocent air in his tone, but a devious smirk showing in his bright eyes.

"Oh!" Elena started, looking surprised as she sniffed the air. She gotten so completely wrapped up in Reno she had forgotten entirely about the bacon on the stove. "I forgot!" She hopped up, but Reno grabbed her arm and pulled her back down so she fell rather closer to actually being on top of him than she would have done on her own. She looked surprised and was hit with another blush at where she found herself.

"Let it burn," Reno whispered, his lips against hers before he even finished saying the few words. Elena would never, ever be able to walk away from one of Reno's kisses prematurely, no matter how dire the situation at hand was. Everything else simply disappeared from her mind the moment his mouth came in contact with hers. She melted against him, completely loosing all track of time and sense of reality existing outside of her little bubble. All she thought was Reno, all she tasted was Reno, all she felt was Reno, all she smelled was Reno. He really had his own scent, sexy and delicious and utterly indescribable. And then the smell of burning bacon became too strong to ignore.

"Now you can go tend to that," Reno whispered, brushing her face with his delicate and bandaged fingers. He laughed on the inside at the totally dreamy look on her face as she nodded and walked away, but he would never admit that's exactly how he felt inside.

"Oops," Elena commented, coming back after having handled the burning bacon situation. Reno had worked his way out of bed and was shuffling around in sweatpants, an article of clothing very dear to his heart, vaguely looking for a shirt.

"I hate being tortured!" he complained loudly, one broken hand pressed over the deep cut in his abs. He wore an understandably pained expression and moved stiffly, like one trying to move as little as possible.

"Well, I'd be worried if you enjoyed it," Elena answered, giving him a hug to comfort him. She did have her own motives however, and she would be lying to say she wasn't thinking about touching his bare skin before she decided to hug him.

Reno laughed slightly, hugging his girl tightly. "I should put on some jeans," he commented randomly.

"Why?"

"Well, my fingers are all broken and shit so I'd have to make you button 'em."

"You are a legitimate pervert, Reno," Elena answered, glad her burning face was against his chest, hidden from his view. She could practically feel his smirk radiating off him.

"You know you love it," he teased.

"Well, I do love you, that's true."

"Even the bad parts?" Reno asked, an unexpectedly serious question slipping into their casual conversation.

"None of you is bad," Elena replied instantly, without having to think about it, "Not a teeny, tiny bit. You have flaws, but that's part of what makes you _you_. And I love you. I can't say I love your flaws, but they're part of you and without them you wouldn't be Reno." The man was silent after this short, but sweet, speech. He continued to hold her.

"So what are my flaws?" he finally asked, the teasing tone in his voice ending the more serious part of their conversation.

"I'm not telling," Elena said flirtatiously, "But I will tell you that they're not what you would think. For one thing, I don't think you kiss me enough."

"I'm sorry, I'll work on that right away." And he did, ignoring the pain that stabbed at his more serious wounds from the slightest movements as he picked the girl up suddenly and sat her on the waist-high dresser which brought her to eye-level with him. All conscious thought leaving her mind as he kissed her slowly and passionately, Elena wrapped her legs around him, pulling herself closer to him where he stood between her legs. His hands rested still, not without some measure of self-control, on her thighs.

"Do you have to go to work?" he whispered, stopping long enough to speak before pressing another quick kiss to her lips before she replied.

"Shit, I forgot about work," she answered, looking regretfully and with a little alarm at the time on her phone.

"You're forgetting about a lot of things today," Reno laughed softly, stepping backwards so she could hop off the dresser.

"Well, that's not my fault. You are insanely distracting," Elena replied, wearing her own little smirk for once.

"I try, I try," Reno smiled, "You'd better run, or Tseng and Rude will get suspicious."

"I thought you didn't care what they thought," Elena referred to their conversation on the previous evening as they both walked towards the front door.

"I don't, but you do," Reno answered simply.

"Aw, I didn't make you breakfast," she said, looking guilty.

"That's fine, I much preferred the alternative," he grinned, pulling her close to kiss her lightly on the lips once more before turning her around and giving her a gentle smack in the direction of the door.

"Try to avoid grabbing my ass," Elena joked on her way out.

"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" Reno called loudly after her, unable to let anyone else have the last word.

_Author's Note: So I'm kind of needing a Reno 'fix' lately...if you guys want to send me a message with your favorite Reno fan fiction, I could use some quality reading! =) For the record, it CAN be something you have written, I promise I'm not going to think you are bragging or whatever. I just want some good stories to read! I know they are out there. =) So thanks so much, in advance. Yeah, the reviews aren't going to work, but you can message me with the title and author's name so....THANK YOU AWESOME PEOPLE! That's what I love most about fangirl-ism. We're all so nice. xD_


	28. Chapter 28

_Author's Note: Update! Obviously...so it's not as long as normal, because I spent several nights this week completely engrossed in a FABULOUS new story that one of my dear readers suggested to me. xD It's called "Cleansing the Soul" by carrietheninja and you should be able to find it under my favorites if any of you want to read that. It's completely wonderful. Completely. But anyway...here is another fun chapter for you guys. And I would like to point out that this is the last of the fluff. =( For now at least. Next chapter starts up again with the serious business. There are still loose ends to be tied up! We're nearing the end, but have several updates to go actually. I'm thinking about doing a sequel to this story instead of starting a completely new one. As if this one wasn't long enough already. =P But enough of this pointless rambling, on to the update! _

Elena spent several boring hours at work, unable to keep her thoughts off the injured redhead. This resulted in a series of smiles, sympathetic looks, and blushes crossing over her face, sometimes in quick succession as various memories crossed her mind. Sighing and staring up at the ceiling aimlessly, Elena swiveled her chair back and forth gently while tapping her pen restlessly on the paperwork in front of her.

_I hope he ate something._ Reno was already extremely skinny, and his recent ordeal hadn't helped that at all. She felt bad for running off without making him breakfast like she'd promised, but she was late, just by a few minutes but Tseng still gave her a slightly disapproving look when she came in.

_I hope he took his pain meds._ He hadn't taken them the entire time she was gone the night before, and he'd been in significant pain when he woke up that morning. He would be hurting again for quite some time if he didn't take anymore during the day.

Frowning, Elena pushed away from her desk and left her office with a sudden resolve.

"Can I go early?" she asked, popping her head around the open door to Tseng's office. She mustered her best acting skills and tried to look as weary as possible. She had been kept captive for several days as well, although they hadn't done so much as touch her. Tseng looked up at her and a knowing smile that made her uncomfortable flickered onto his face.

"I assume you are asking me this because you want to see Reno?" The man didn't miss much.

"Yes," Elena admitted at once, turning slightly pink for having been caught in her act.

"Hmm," Tseng looked highly amused, "Yes, it will be fine for you to leave early today. I'm only allowing it because I would like Reno to be checked up on. Any normal person would still be in the hospital and he shouldn't be left on his own for too long, just in case."

"Yeah," Elena echoed, shifting from foot to foot, "So…bye." She waved cheerily and took off at a brisk pace, a new spring in her step now that she had something to look forward to imminently. She decided to stop on her way home, well, Reno's apartment, and pick up some groceries. The large majority of all once-edible items they'd found when they'd moved his stuff had long since been thrown away and not much could be done with what was left. Now that she had hours ahead of her, Elena would make Reno dinner. She felt better already just thinking about feeding the lanky redhead.

Pulling her cell-phone out of her pocket as she left the building, Elena called Reno to let him know she'd be coming soon.

"Huh?" Reno answered his phone after several rings with hardly more than a grunt.

"Hi, how are you?" Elena questioned, used to Reno's untraditional ways by now.

"Oh, it's you," he sounded infinitely better as soon as he recognized her voice.

"Yeah, didn't you look at the caller ID?" Elena asked with a short laugh.

"Nah, too lazy."

"Right," Elena smiled, "Tseng let me leave early so I'll be there pretty soon."

"Wear somethin' sexy," Reno replied without missing a beat.

"Reno!" Elena reprimanded, only smiling bigger although she flushed red.

"Chill out, babe," Reno's low chuckle came over the phone, making her miss him even though she was talking to him and about to see him, "You got a key still, right? Just let yourself in when ya get here."

"See you soon," Elena snapped her phone closed and slipped it into her pocket, wondering if she should have mentioned she was stopping somewhere before coming. She dismissed the thought, deciding he wouldn't be timing her and probably wouldn't even notice that she was longer in coming than he expected.

* * *

"There ya are!" Reno watched her come in the door, several grocery bags in her arms. She noted with a little surprise that he looked a bit anxious. Elena was touched. Taking most of the bags from her, Reno followed her to the kitchen. "Why didn't ya say you were stoppin'?" He looked almost accusingly at her while unceremoniously putting the bags down on the counter.

"I forgot," Elena said, "But I'm here now!" Reno nodded and just looked at her for a moment before opening his arms wide expectantly. Elena smiled and went quickly and willingly into his strong embrace. Her head resting against his chest, Elena wrapped one arm around him and put one hand on his thin side.

"Did you eat anything at all today?" she asked, fairly sure of the answer already.

"Not really," Reno reluctantly replied.

"Why not? Are you trying to starve yourself to death?"

"No…I just don't like cooking. I sort of suck at it."

"Well, I'm going to make you dinner. How does pasta sound?"

"I don't care," Reno shrugged, "I pretty much just eat whatever happens to cross my path that's edible."

"You need a woman," Elena laughed, slipping out of his arms to start dinner preparations.

"I do need you," Reno said quietly, changing the joke into something meaningful. This earned him a quick kiss as Elena went about putting food away and struggling to find the appropriate cooking-ware. Reno attempted to help, but his broken fingers made his movements slow and clumsy and kept making him wince. When he bit his lip for the third time, Elena removed the jar from his hands and gently pushed him out of the kitchen.

"Go watch TV or something," Elena demanded, "And be careful with your hands. They don't heal overnight. Don't you need another morphine dose?" She had noted the constant pained look on his face since she got there. He probably hadn't had one since the one she'd given him that morning.

"No," Reno answered quickly, almost sharply, sitting down on the couch carefully. Elena was surprised by his tone, and her brow wrinkled in confusion.

"What? Why not?" she followed him out of the kitchen now and leaned over the back of the sofa next to him to look at his face. He didn't meet her gaze.

"Because…" he was obviously struggling to answer, "Because I _want_ it."

"Oh," Elena said lamely, and felt terrible for the suffering man before her, but was perplexed at how to make it better. On impulse, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders from were she stood behind the couch, and kissed him softly on the cheek. An idea came to her, and Elena went off in search of her purse.

"Would you take an Ibuprofen?" she asked, digging around her bag for the small bottle of mild pain-killers that she knew was in there, "It's not prescription strength and it's significantly less addicting than morphine or anything else they'd give you in a hospital. It won't do as good of a job, but it should take the edge of the pain at least." Reno looked surprised. Apparently this idea hadn't occurred to him before.

"Yeah, that should be fine," he nodded, looking more than a little relieved as he carefully rubbed the area above his heart where he'd been stabbed, irritated by the pain. Elena found the bottle and proudly presented the redhead with one of the small, white pills. He swallowed it, dry as usual, and then smiled up at the blonde girl.

"I knew there was a reason I kept ya around," he joked. Elena opted for a highly mature response, and spit her tongue out at him before disappearing into the kitchen to make the promised pasta.

* * *

A few hours later, and dinner had been made, eaten, and cleaned up after. Again, Reno had tried to help but wasn't much good at doing dishes with bandaged fingers that shrieked protest when they were bent. Just as before, Elena exiled him to the couch, demanding he get proper rest.

"But I've been resting all day," Reno complained as he reluctantly left the kitchen into the more dimly lit living area.

"Well, that's what people do when they're recovering from torture," Elena had meant to be sarcastic, but the effect was significantly diminished by the fact that the mention of what had happened to him was so horrifying to her that she shivered.

"Alright, I'll go sit on a couch if it makes you happy," Reno whispered in her ear with a quiet chuckle. He'd slipped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her small waist, giving her a gentle hug before obeying her command.

When the last of the dishes was done, Elena found him laying down, his knees hooked over one arm of the black leather sofa, one arm resting on his stomach and the other hanging over the edge. A movie, that appeared to be of a highly romantic comedy nature, was playing at low volume in the background, but he wasn't watching it at all.

"I need a pillow," Reno informed her, a playful grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. Elena sat down next to him and he promptly put his head in her lap, his blood-red ponytail splayed over her legs.

"Are you watching this?" Elena asked, looking at the TV in amusement. She didn't think it was his kind of thing.

"That? No, never," Reno shot a disdainful look at the screen, "Nothin' good was on and I thought you might like it."

"Oh, I see," she smiled, "What are you going to do?"

"Lay here," he answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. To an extent it was, and it was exactly what he did. Elena became rather absorbed in the emotional movie, one hand brushing through Reno's long ponytail methodically, the other slowly rubbing his chest which rose and fell deeply and evenly. They were silent excepting the occasional chuckle from Reno in response to any perverted jokes made in the movie.

As the credits rolled, Elena looked down at Reno. The redhead was dozing, not really asleep, but not fully awake either.

"Hey," Elena moved her leg slightly to shift his head and wake him up, "The movie's over and it's late. I'm going to go now." He attempted to say something, but only succeeded in getting out a few mumbled words. Yawning and stretching, he narrowly missed hitting Elena in the face and then promptly slipped off the couch and onto the floor.

"Ow." He was more awake now, but still almost unconscious of his actions and movements.

"You need to go to bed," Elena laughed lightly at his clumsy and confused movements. His bright aquamarine eyes were barely open as he picked himself up off the floor heavily. She stood up next to him and he put an arm around her shoulders, holding her close as he tiredly walked off towards his bedroom. Intending to make sure he actually made it safely into bed, Elena went with him.

When he arrived at his bed, Reno simply collapsed onto it, pulling Elena along so that she ended up with him between her and the side of the bed that didn't touch a wall. The move was so smoothly executed, Elena would have sworn he planned it except for the fact that she was fairly certain he was legitimately asleep.

"Well, this is interesting," Elena muttered to herself, now that she was trapped in Reno's arms. She attempted to scowl while making a half-hearted 'escape' plan, but soon gave up lying to herself and kicked off her shoes, managing to kick them straight off her feet and onto the floor without hitting anything else. Allowing herself to turn warm and bubbly, Elena couldn't help but turn pink as she snuggled up closer to the sleeping man beside her. Reno lay on his side, on arm stretched under her neck and the other laying over her stomach as she lay next to him on her back. His face was basically right next to hers, his breath warm on her neck and the messy, loose strands of her around his face tickling her cheek.

A slight shiver went through his body, and with some clever maneuvering, Elena managed to get hold of one of the many blankets tossed over the messy bed and she drew it over them both, blocking out the cold. As she lay there, she reflected that this was not how she imagined her first night with Reno. _Not that I imagined such a thing._ She quickly said to herself. _No, of course not. _Now she was being assaulted with the wave of mental imagery that came along with such a train of thought, and she furiously batted them away. _Stop it!_ She warned her mind. Now that she was warm and felt so completely safe that it didn't take long for Reno's steady breathing to lull her to sleep.

* * *

Reno woke up the next morning to find Elena cuddled up in his arms, much to his surprise. He remembered some dumb girly movie and that was pretty much it. A grin started to spread across his face as the girl so close to him began to stir, rolling over so she was facing him. Only just beginning to wake up, Elena unconsciously grabbed two handfuls of his t-shirt and slid closer, nestling her head under his chin with a sigh. He felt her breath catch, and smiling deviously he knew she was awake.

"If you were tryin' to take advantage of me, 'Laney, you're doin' a bad job of it," he commented in a quiet voice. Elena became conscious of her position in the middle of his sentence and, with impressive speed, backed up, staring up at his bemused expression with wide incredulous eyes.

"Actually," Elena recovered her composure remarkably quickly, although she could not escape the furious blush that rose to her face, "I should be the one saying that to you. You're the one who dragged me into his bed. I tried to _escape_," she put unnecessary emphasis on the word, "But it was impossible."

"Let's be honest with ourselves, 'Laney," Reno smirked, "I'm bettin' ya really didn't try that hard to 'escape'." The tone he used with that word showed just how skeptical he was of her attempts to free herself. Elena jerked her eyes away from his knowing aqua gaze, shifting them nervously around the room.

"I did too! I tried very hard!" she protested fiercely, only strengthening Reno's amused suspicion.

"Whatever helps ya sleep at night, babe," Reno grinned, "Besides me." With a laugh he quickly jumped out of bed, avoiding any blows she might aim his way. He had forgotten about his several healing wounds however, and cringed slightly, causing Elena to get up on her knees on the edge of the bed, anxiously next to him.

"Are you ok?" she asked with a worried frown.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he struggled to keep a straight face as he put his arms around her waist and then slowly tipped forward, his body weight forcing her to fall backwards onto the bed. He caught himself on his elbows and knees, straddling her recumbent form. Hovering a few tiny inches above her, he looked into her wide brown eyes very seriously.

"Tseng and Rude will know. You're wearing the same thing you wore yesterday," Reno whispered with a smirk, thoroughly enjoying stopping her heart only to tease her. His amusement was only heightened by her response.

"Oh shit, you're right!" Elena freaked out, looking so completely horrified and frantic. Reno rolled off of her, laying on his back and laughing loudly.

"It's…it's a …uniform," Reno gasped out, cracking up. Elena paused, taking this in.

"Oh," she said lamely, trying to be angry at him for making her look dumb. It was hard to do when he was laughing right next to her. He looked truly happy and carefree when he laughed like that, and it was rare that he did, so she couldn't be upset with him and instead she smiled and laughed too.

"But seriously," Reno continued once his laughing fit had subsided, "Next time you wanna sleep with me, let me know before hand and I'll make it more…entertaining." His devious grin was accompanied by a suggestive wiggle of the eyebrows.

"You're so bad," Elena muttered, embarrassed.

"Yup," Reno agreed, completely unconcerned by this observation as he rolled back over, taking her by surprise just as she was trying to retreat from the bed. Propped up on his elbows next to her, he pinned her arms down and kissed her softly. It didn't take long for her lips to part, granting him access. He, in return, freed her arms which she quickly put to good use. She ran her fingers through his messy red hair, tugging on it gently. There was no telling how much time passed, but neither of them were paying much attention to it.

Finishing her off with another delicate kiss, Reno left her panting and reluctantly allowing her hands to fall from his hair as he slid onto his feet. Trying to preoccupy herself with straightening her clothes and hair, Elena muttered something about breakfast and beat a hasty retreat before she certain…circumstances made it impossible for her to go to work.

"Where is your shirt?" Elena almost squeaked many minutes later as she stood in the kitchen, scrambling eggs. Reno had wandered in, shirtless, wearing unbuttoned jeans and with a concentrated from on his face as he stared down at the Rubik's cube in his hands.

"Huh?" he looked up at her after a several second delay. Elena didn't say anything, but motioned to his bare chest. He looked down. "Oh," he grinned back up at her, "I was changin' and got distracted. Guess I forgot a few things. Hey, speakin' of that, would ya do me a favor?"

"What?" Elena asked, slightly suspicious.

"Button my jeans?" His eyes sparkled mischievously as Elena froze. "Please? I can't use my fingers completely yet, remember?"

"I remember," Elena set her jaw determinedly and walked toward the redhead with a regal air, "You didn't have to wear jeans though."

"Yeah, but I wanted to," Reno smirked, spreading his arms out slightly so as not to get in her way. With as what dignity she could gather, and with much clearing of her throat, Elena managed to keep her composure as she buttoned Reno's jeans for him. She performed the action as quickly as she could, hindered by the unstoppable trembling of her fingers. As soon as she was done, Elena turned and walked back to the stove at a clipped pace.

"Thanks, babe," Reno grinned, "Let me know when I can return the favor."

"Go put a shirt on, Reno," Elena replied, not glorifying his comment with any further response.

_Author's Note: Can I get any volunteers to help Reno out with his pants? Anyone, anyone? =P So next chapter we get serious again. But still fun and amusing. Once again, if anyone has any good stories to suggest, please do so because I need some stuff to read. Again, feel free to suggest your own stories!! I promise I won't think you're bragging or whatever. Hey, you may have a very good right to brag! =P I hope you enjoyed the update! Please review, because the reviews should be actually working again! YAY! xD_


	29. Chapter 29

_Author's Note: So, as I promised, we are getting back to business! Never fear, the fluff is not leaving forever, there will simply be a less high concentration of it. =P This chapter still is pretty fluffy. So again, sorry about the shorter chapter....um...at least there is one?? =P Anyway, just read it and review it. I love reviews. They inspire me. So! Enjoy! _

"So when are we goin' after those ninjas bastards?" Reno barged into Tseng's office bluntly. Tseng looked up from the open file in front of him in surprise, and his gaze shifted from the impatient redhead to Elena as she drifted meekly in behind Reno with a resigned look on her face. She shrugged.

"I couldn't stop him, sir," she glanced at the vibrant redhead with slight annoyance. It had been a few days over a week since Reno had been released from the hospital, and he had deemed himself well enough to return to work, or at least to the part he wanted to get to.

"Are you recovered enough to go on a mission like that?' Tseng questioned seriously, "It will be quite dangerous, even though you will be accompanied by Rude and myself."

"And me!" Elena threw in stubbornly, feeling uneasy that no one acknowledged her comment. It seemed to be an understood fact between them that Elena would stay, and she had no intentions of doing any such thing. She had revenge to seek out. You didn't do that to her darling redhead and get away with it. She knew he would handle it just fine without her help, but that didn't mean she wasn't interested in kicking some ass!

"I'm fine," Reno replied, irritated, "I got scars to show for it, but other than that, I'm good."

"Can you pull a trigger? Bone takes longer to heal," Tseng was persistent.

"Yes."

"Prove it. We're going to the firing range right now," Tseng closed the file before him and got out of his chair, rounding the desk to lead them out of the room, "And we shall see if you really can pull a trigger without hurting yourself. There's the kick to be considered too. Not too much from a sidearm, but it will be painful if your fingers have not healed well enough."

Reno was beginning to look a little uneasy, but only for a moment before he expertly masked it behind his usual lazily amused expression. Elena suspected he'd been lying when he said he could pull a trigger. She didn't think he'd tried. _Tseng must be used to calling Reno's bluffs though._

A few silent minutes later and all three of them stood assembled in the firing range.

"Fire away," Tseng commented, putting a loaded gun into Reno's outstretched hand. He'd taken the bandages off his fingers for good just the day before. Elena watched with a tiny worried wrinkle in her forehead. He handled the gun as expertly as ever, with only a fraction of the stiffness left in his fingers. He calmly took aim at the target placed at what seemed an impossible distance. So far Reno didn't appear to be in any pain even though his fingers were bent as he held the gun. He fired off an entire round in seconds, lowering the gun and handing it back to Tseng.

"Satisfied?" he asked, only appearing a little uncomfortable and flexing his fingers a bit awkwardly.

"All dead center," Tseng commented, noting where the bullets had hit the target, "As usual." There wasn't a lack of pride in the man's voice as he observed Reno's work. "Alright. I'll make the plans and let you know. In the meantime, get your strength back up."

"Thanks, boss," Reno managed to make it sound more like an insult than gratitude. Tseng ignored it and went hastily back to his work. "Well, I passed." Reno grinned at Elena who stood next to him. She nodded.

"Are you sure you're well enough?" Elena asked, worried his impatience was forcing him into rash decisions.

"I'll be fine, sweetheart," Reno's tone was playful and lazy as he bent down to press a soft, sweet, regrettably quick kiss to her lips. "I'm like a roach: impossible to kill."

"That's disgusting, Reno," Elena said blatantly, giving him a look, "Besides, you are far more attractive than a roach." The redhead grinned and, taking her hand, led her out of the room. Their fingers entwined, they made their way back to the Turks' offices at a leisurely pace.

Elena swiftly became confused as several of the people they passed in the hallways gave her heart-chilling glares. It wasn't until the fifth one that she realized what it was, and then she couldn't help but allow a huge, smug smile to grow on her face. Every single woman they passed was glaring at her. Not Reno, but her. _Jealousy is an ugly thing,_ Elena reflected. _Just not on my end._ She couldn't help but be proud of her gorgeous redhead and she was beaming for the few remaining minutes of their walk.

* * *

By the time they all went home, Tseng had called Yuffie and determined the location of the targets. If they moved, Yuffie was under strict orders to follow them and call Tseng at once. Elena hadn't heard them set any specific time of departure, but she knew they had discussed it. Standing in the kitchen preparing dinner for herself and Reno, Elena smiled discreetly. She had every intention of letting them think they could get away with leaving her behind, but she had grand visions of dazzling them with her observation skills and not letting them get away. She knew it was Reno's idea to keep her from going with them. He apparently he was too worried that something would happen to her. Why couldn't he understand that she was worried too?

Elena heard the redhead walk past and she turned to say something but stopped short when she noticed he was blindfolded, apparently of his own doing.

"What the hell, Reno?" Elena questioned simply. The endearing mischievous grin appeared on his face in a flash.

"Memorizin' my new apartment," he answered casually, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, "Ya know, in case I ever need to get around the place without lookin'."

"You can already see in the dark, Reno," Elena couldn't help but smile, even though he couldn't see it, "Isn't that good enough?" That was one of the good effects the mako had on him. Reno had excellent night vision.

"I like weird skills," Reno explained, pressing a quick kiss on her cheek suddenly, with uncanny aim. "Besides, bein' able to _feel_ your surroundings is helpful."

"Uh huh," Elena would never cease to be surprised by the things Reno did. She leaned into him and with gentle fingers pulled the blindfold from his eyes. "Well you can wander around like that later. I love your eyes and I want to be able to see them. So let me be selfish."

"Ok," Reno smirked, blinking a few times to accustom his eyes to the light again, "But then I get to be selfish too and make you get back to cookin' so I can eat an unburned dinner."

"Oh!" Elena spun around quickly to the food she'd left unattended on the stove. Reno laughed, letting his hands slide off her waist as she moved away from him. Elena heard the redhead start to hum something, occasionally singing a few words under his breath that she could barely understand.

"A sexy chick" was all she caught, but she heard it several times. She was about to turn and ask just what he was singing when he surprised her.

"Damn girl!" Reno shouted suddenly, startling her so bad she jumped and let a tiny scream escape. This just sent the redhead into laughter again and Elena glared at him, smacking him lightly on the chest.

"Don't do that! You scared me!"

"I'm just singin', baby," Reno commented, his eyes glittering gleefully.

"Well, do it somewhere else," Elena said irritably, irked by her embarrassing reaction.

"Ok," Reno complied, hopping off the countertop he'd been sitting on and ambling lazily into the living room, singing under his breath again. Only this time, the words had changed and were more audible. "Damn, you'se a sexy bitch, a sexy bitch."

"I heard that!" Elena called after him and was given nothing more than a light-hearted laugh in response. She just shook her head, trying to fight the smile that threatened to spread itself over her face while she finished cooking. She made dinner every night, ensuring he ate at least one healthy meal a day. Reno honestly did not take good care of himself, mainly because he simply overlooked such aspects of life in his laziness. And so Elena fed him, made him go to sleep when she left every night, and kept his apartment clean. He didn't complain about anything except for the cleaning. Reno wasn't too messy, he just tended to leave things laying around. Elena would pick them up, and then the redhead complained he couldn't find his things or that they were too hard to get to now. He argued that he put them there for a reason and that she was lowering his efficiency. Reno was terribly lazy.

* * *

After dinner, Elena was settled comfortably on the couch, watching TV. Reno sat with her for barely five minutes before getting up and walking in a circle around the room. He sat down again. He tapped his fingers restlessly on his leg, than shoved his hands in his pockets and slouched very low on the couch. He had not failed to gain Elena's attention at this point, but she pretended to remain absorbed in the TV show while she watched him curiously out of the corner of her eye. It took hardly a few more seconds for him to get up again and pace the floor. He kept glancing over to the corner, to the glossy black piano that stood there, silent for so long. Never sticking to one action for long, Reno suddenly threw himself over the back of the sofa, landing on it upside down so his feet dangled over the back and his head hung over the edge of the cushions. His fingers tapped restlessly on his stomach.

"What are you doing?" Elena finally asked, focusing determinedly on the TV when she noticed the quite intriguing way Reno's shirt had slid up, revealing the pale, smooth skin that covered the hard muscles of his lower abdomen.

"Nothin'," Reno answered immediately, failing to shed any light on his actions. He turned his head, staring at the piano for some time before cracking his knuckles and suppressing the following wince. With a loud sigh, he rolled off the couch and onto his feet in the blink of an eye and marched quickly over to his piano. After a few random notes played by themselves hesitantly, Reno launched into beautiful piece of music that flowed like a mountain stream and danced like the sun glinting off glass. Elena muted the TV to listen, as awed as the first and only other time she'd heard him play. She was no expert, but she heard him struggle haltingly a few times. When he was finished, Elena discovered she had been holding her breath and she let it out about the same time Reno sighed again. Only this time, it was a relieved sigh.

"I'll be ok," he announced cheerfully, laying on the couch with his head in Elena's lap. He exhibited no signs of his earlier restlessness, and promptly closed his eyes and relaxed. Elena smiled to herself, absently running her fingers through his long blood-red ponytail as she went back to watching her show. It wasn't long before a thought began nagging her mind, refusing to go away. _What does his hair look like out of this ponytail?_ Elena could not recall ever having seen it down, and she was suddenly struck with a burning curiosity. Glancing at him, Elena determined Reno was partially asleep and she began to stroke only the upper part of his hair, trying not to change her actions too suddenly so he wouldn't notice. Her fingers ran over the band holding his hair in the ponytail, and she knew there was no way she could let the thought drop now. She tugged gently on strands of his hair, hoping to make it less suspicious when she pulled the band out later. This drew nothing more than an indescribable sound from Reno. Cautiously, she tugged carefully at the band and just when it started to move, Reno's hand shot up with his lightning fast reflexes and he caught her wrist. Not missing a beat, Elena reached for the band with her other hand, completely abandoning stealth tactics. Reno grabbed her other wrist as well, smirking up at her with a hint of confusion on his face.

"What are ya tryin' to do, 'Laney?" he asked playfully, his eyes twinkling but with a touch of warning.

"I, uh, just wondered what you're hair looked like out of a ponytail," she admitted, trying to gauge his reaction. Reno raised his eyebrows.

"Well keep wonderin', babe, cause you ain't ever gonna find out," he grinned.

"Please?" Elena quickly resorted to begging.

"Nope," Reno sat up, wrapping his arms around her and pinning her own arms to her sides so she couldn't mess with his hair.

"Fine then." An idea had come to the blonde woman. "Make me a deal?"

"What?" Reno replied, raising a wary eyebrow.

"I promise not to take your hair out of a ponytail, and you let me come on the mission tomorrow."

"No deal," the redhead answered with no hesitation, shaking his head, his grip around her arms loosening to a gentler hold.

"So I get to see your hair down?"

"No," Reno smirked cheerfully, his aquamarine eyes full of amusement, "You do not get to see my hair down and you do not get to come with us to kill those bastards. These guys are dangerous and we're heavily outnumbered."

"Then why don't you take me with you? That would add one more to our side!"

"Yeah, but then I wouldn't be able to focus on takin' 'em out. I'd be too worried about keepin' you safe," Reno let her go as she removed herself from his arms, an annoyed frown on her face.

"I can take care of myself! I don't need protecting," Elena complained stubbornly, crossing her arms.

"I know ya can," Reno answered, but Elena wasn't sure if he meant it or not, "But I still want to protect you." He spoke softly, putting his arms around her and pulling her close to him again. She didn't resist, but she didn't show any affection in return either. She tried her best to look away from him, because she knew one glimpse of his face would melt any remaining defenses she had. She was determined to win this argument. In a sudden move, Reno grabbed her waist and pulled her into his lap. Elena was so surprised at abruptly finding herself straddling Reno that she made the mistake of looking at his amused smirk and loving eyes.

"And I thought I was stubborn," Reno commented, keeping a firm grip on the girl's hips, "You're not comin', Laney."

"But what if something happens to you?!" Elena's calm and cold outward façade quickly fell to shambles as she threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, "What if you get hurt, or worse, and I'm all the way back here in Midgar?! Do you know how scared I would be, Reno?" The cool, soft fabric of his t-shirt pressed against one side of her face while the other came in contact with the warm skin of his neck. She felt him swallow and take a breath before speaking.

"I know, Laney," Reno rubbed her back gently, "Nothin's gonna happen to me though. Tseng and Rude are comin', and I'll be lucky if they let anyone get within ten feet of me! Besides, I'm hard to kill."

"Don't even say that," Elena muttered sharply, being comforted despite her best efforts. It was hard to be worried about something when Reno held her so close and spoke to her calmingly. Besides, with her face against his neck Elena was really noticing how…intoxicating Reno smelled. It was sufficiently distracting from her fears.

"They got me under some pretty unique conditions last time. If I hadn't been screwed over by that whole mako fever thing, they wouldn't have been able to get near either of us. There's nothin' to be worried about."

"Ok," Elena said begrudgingly, still holding onto him tightly. Several minutes passed in silence except for the quiet sounds emanating from the TV. Neither Turk moved.

"Ya plannin' on stayin' there all night, cause if you are, I got some better ideas," Reno said suggestively, fingers tapping her sides gently.

"Well, I thought I might just go to sleep here," Elena joked, her breath tickling his neck, "You are really comfortable, Reno, you know that?"

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

"Shut up, Reno," Elena became disgruntled at this comment. The idea of anyone else touching him in the same way she did was, frankly, disgusting to her.

"I'm just messin' with ya, Laney."

"Don't go," she whispered, unable to completely shake her concerns about the impending mission.

"I thought we were past that. I have to go, babe. I can't let 'em think they can do what they want to me without gettin' their asses kicked."

"I know," Elena grumbled. She understood his feelings on the matter, and she knew nothing she would say or do would keep him from going. She pushed off the back of the couch, sitting up straight, still straddling Reno's lap. She rested her hands on her knees and looked at him very seriously. He met her gaze.

"Well, I guess that's as far as we're going to get on that topic," Elena said, "You are going, and I'm not. I don't like it, but it's how it's going to be."

"Yup, that's pretty much it," Reno nodded slowly.

"Hmm, so there's only one thing left to do then," Elena said softly, looking down at her hands which were now fingering the edge of Reno's black t-shirt. Making her decision abruptly, Elena leaned in to kiss him while sliding her hands up his back, underneath his shirt. She could feel his muscles tense in the wake of her touch as he kissed her back with a fierce passion. It felt as though he'd been holding back all this time and was finally able to let himself go.

_It's true,_ Elena reflected before she became completely lost in the moment,_ He's been restraining himself until I was ready._ The redhead held on to Elena firmly as he got to his feet. She wrapped her legs securely around him and reveled in the delight of touching his bare skin, one hand pressed on his lower back and the other on his shoulder to steady herself as he carried her off slowly down the hall. He never once bothered to stop kissing her long enough to check where he was going. _Is this why he wanted to memorize the layout of his apartment? _Elena grinned, her lips still pressed on his.

She giggled as he dropped her on the bed. Her hands caught the ends of his shirt and wasted no time in pulling it over his head and off, tossing it somewhere behind her.

_Author's Note: Sooooooooooooo. =D Review? Tell me what you think...you can't say you didn't like this chapter because I KNOW you did. =P I personally don't believe in pre-marital sex, but that's not me in the story, is it? (I wish I was Elena, let me tell you that!!!) So even though I don't condone it, I guess I have to accurately represent their characters. Whatever. REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THIS CHAPTER! WOOT! I wish you all could see me when I write. I'm sitting here writing this bit at the end and I just had to pause a moment and say to myself, "Well, that's sexy." xD So anyway...that's all. =P Hope you liked it._


	30. Chapter 30

_Author's Note: UPDATE! I actually couldn't wait to update this week. I was looking at the calendar impatiently since Tuesday. =P Ok, couple of things, first of all, that song that Reno was singing in the last chapter is a real song and it's called "Damn Girl" by David Guetta and Akon. Awesome song, I love it, go listen to it. You can find it on youtube. From the moment I first heard it, I could always see Reno dancing and singing like the crazy person he is, so I had to put it in. =P The edited version of the song says "sexy chick" while the unedited version says "sexy bitch" which is why Reno changes the lyrics when Elena gets snappy. =P So that's that...also, I remembered something I forgot to put in that last scene in the last chapter, so you guys will have to live through reading it again. xD What a bummer. *sarcasm* Anyway, ENJOY. xD Also, I will be gone next week, so no update next Friday. =( And I will be gone the following weekend as well, so I'll probably update next on the 18th. _

"Hmm, so there's only one thing left to do then," Elena said softly, looking down at her hands which were now fingering the edge of Reno's black t-shirt. Making her decision abruptly, Elena leaned in to kiss him while sliding her hands up his back, underneath his shirt. She could feel his muscles tense in the wake of her touch as he kissed her back with a fierce passion. It felt as though he'd been holding back all this time and was finally able to let himself go.

_It's true,_ Elena reflected before she became completely lost in the moment,_ He's been restraining himself until I was ready._ The redhead held on to Elena firmly as he got to his feet. She wrapped her legs securely around him and reveled in the delight of touching his bare skin, one hand pressed on his lower back and the other on his shoulder to steady herself as he carried her off slowly down the hall. He never once bothered to stop kissing her long enough to check where he was going. _Is this why he wanted to memorize the layout of his apartment? _Elena grinned, her lips still pressed on his.

She giggled as he dropped her on the bed. Her hands caught the ends of his shirt and wasted no time in pulling it over his head and off, tossing it somewhere behind her. Elena didn't think she had ever felt so good before in her life, as Reno's body pressed against hers while he kissed her neck. She had felt someone pressed on top of her before though and the unwanted memories that she had managed to suppress until now flooded back through her mind with the force of a tsunami, freezing her heart at once. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly as if to block out the disturbing images of her day and night spent in captivity, when the anti-Turk gang they had encountered had raped her violently and repeatedly. Tears instantly welled up, sliding down her cheeks and a tiny gasp that Reno easily identified as having nothing to do with pleasure escaped her lips. These were not the kind of thoughts and feelings she wanted to be having right then!

"What's wrong?" Reno's low, soft voice instantly inquired as he hovered above her, gazing worriedly into her misty eyes.

"Just…" Elena was having trouble getting the words out. She had difficulty talking about it. "Just…that thing." Reno clearly had no idea what she was talking about, but Elena kept trying because she knew he was deeply concerned and there was no getting him to brush it off now. "Those men…who…who…they raped me." She finally managed to get the words out, a new surge of silent tears accompanying them. Emotions flashed quickly through Reno's expressive eyes. First understanding, then sympathy followed closely by anger which was soon replaced with sadness.

"Laney…" Reno's hands left her hips and wiped away her tears, "I'm sorry." He held her face carefully in his hands and pressed a delicate, innocent kiss to her lips. It took barely a moment for her to respond, drawing him into a more passionate kiss. Both were still once their lips separated. Reno's hesitation was clear.

"Go on," Elena urged quietly. This was something she wanted, and she wouldn't let the past ruin it for her. She made the decision to put it behind her permanently. That part of her life had nothing to do with this beautiful moment, or with her even more beautiful Reno. There were no similarities except for the name of the action. Reno touched her only with the utmost gentleness, and he took things almost irritatingly slow. Elena could almost have cried again over how perfect he was.

* * *

Elena blinked her eyes open sleepily, slowly awakening from her deep sleep. The first thing that struck her was the incredible good feeling she had. She was smiling instinctively, she felt absolutely gorgeous, and she had that warm, fuzzy, schoolgirl feeling you get when your crush smiles at you. She had barely a second to ponder this when her memories of the night before came rushing back, bringing a bit of color to her cheeks with it. It was about the same time that she registered Reno's strong arms around her, holding her back close against his chest. She could feel his chest rise and fall steadily, a sheet the only thing separating them.

Elena squeezed her eyes shut and treated herself a girly mental squeal of joy. Rolling over ever so carefully, she placed a hand on his bare chest, delicately tracing muscles and a few faint scars with her fingertips. She took the opportunity to examine the newly healed wound above his heart with a critical gaze. It was doing quite well, and only hurt him if he over-used the muscles in that area or if excessive pressure was applied. Elena leaned in, over the few inches that remained between them, and impulsively pressed her lips against the new scar.

"All better," she whispered to herself, feeling spontaneous and giggly.

"Now all it needs is a band-aid," Reno's humorous whisper surprised her, and she blushed at being caught in her ridiculous act.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," Elena apologized, snuggling up to him happily as he tightened his arms around her.

"It's not your fault, babe," Reno said, "I'm a light sleeper. Must be that obnoxious Turk instinct." They were both silent for a moment, content just to lay as they were. "So," Reno continued eventually, an overly casual tone to his voice that tipped Elena off at once, "You ok?" He awkwardly referenced her moment of discomfort the night before.

"I've never been happier in my entire life," Elena replied honestly, kissing his neck because she couldn't reach his mouth at the moment.

"Good. You had me worried there for awhile, Laney," Reno slid down between the sheets to be eye-level with her, "Thought we were gonna have to get you therapy or somethin'."

"No," Elena was able to smile, although she preferred not to mention it, "I think you were therapy enough." Reno grinned, aqua eyes twinkling.

"I do have that effect on people." Once again, the two Turks lay in silence before Reno broke it. "We need to go to work." Oddly enough, he was trying to be on time for work. Elena would have been confused, except she could easily figure out that the others must have been intending to leave soon or else Reno wouldn't care about getting to work. She carefully tucked that information away, and smiled up at the redhead devilishly.

"Ok. Let me just find my clothes then," she had the reward of seeing a brief glimpse of pleasant surprise flash across Reno's face, as if he had forgotten what state of clothed-ness she was currently in. Just to tease him, Elena slid out of the bed, pulling a blanket with her that she kept wrapped around herself. Much to her amused pleasure, Reno looked a bit more than annoyed. It took quite a bit of looking to find her various articles of clothing.

"Over-zealous," she glanced toward him with an almost accusatory look as she muttered her disgruntled comments. By the time she had found her underwear, bra, and shirt, she tossed the blanket back onto the bed precisely so that it would bury Reno who had simply been laying there watching.

"Hey," Reno complained half-heartedly, swatting the offending blanket away. Elena just smirked at him as she buttoned up her shirt, smoothing the wrinkles out of it and hoping no one would notice. It went down far enough to allow only mere glimpses of her lacy black underwear as she found her pants and pulled them on as well. Elena mentally congratulated herself on having the presence of mind to wear attractive underwear the day before.

"Well, show's over, might as well get dressed," Reno commented the moment Elena zipped up her pants.

"Pervert."

"You know you love it," Reno smirked and rolled to the edge of the bed lazily running his hand over the floor in the hopes that he would find clothes without having to move any farther.

"You should try actually moving your lazy ass sometime," Elena commented sarcastically, finding Reno's Turk uniform and bringing it to him, "You might actually like being productive for a change."

"My ass is too busy bein' sexy," Reno replied cheerily.

"I will accept that excuse," Elena said without cracking a smile as she walked off into the bathroom to attempt to make her hair presentable. She made a face at herself in the mirror, far from satisfied. _It will have to do. _Luckily, she worked only with men, and men lacked a certain degree of perceptivity that women possessed. She doubted they would notice if she died her hair a different color, so a little mess shouldn't matter, right?

* * *

"What happened to your hair?" Rude asked almost before he looked up from the cup of coffee he held in his hand. Reno and Elena had just stepped out of the elevator on their floor, holding hands. Elena's jaw dropped.

"Uh, uh, nothing," she tried to hurry past, frantically smoothing her hair with her free hand. _Ok, it may not be perfect, but there is nothing wrong with my hair! They weren't supposed to notice! _Then she remembered, and could have slapped herself for it. True, she worked with men, but those men were Turks and not the tiniest detail escaped a Turk. Rude raised an eyebrow at her rushed response, but his expression was inscrutable beyond that because of the sunglasses he constantly wore. Elena thought she felt Reno laughing to himself, but she was too busy brushing her fingers through her hair to do anything about it.

"It's fine, Laney," Reno commented, pulling her hands from her head and critically examining the fluffy blonde hair. He carefully adjusted a few stray strands and then patted her on the head. "There, no one will ever suspect how you spent your night." His trademark smirk appeared on his face as Elena turned red.

"Hush, Reno!" she put a finger to his lips desperately, "People will hear you!"

"Hear him say what?" Tseng seemed to have materialized out of nowhere directly behind her, causing Elena to jump.

"Nothing, sir, nothing at all."

"That's not what you said last night," Reno commented, faking offense.

"Shut up, Reno!" Elena was bright red now and turned to face the man, gesturing pointlessly and urgently.

"Rude," Tseng called, a smile quickly growing on his face, "I believe I owe you some money." Rude came out of his office to meet them in the hall once more, a huge smile on his face as well.

"Excellent," Rude extended a hand to collect the gil Tseng was pulling from his wallet, "I told you it wouldn't take him that long to get her in bed."

"No!" Elena practically wailed, hands pressed to her cheeks, eyes peeking with horror through her spread fingers, "You made bets?" She retreated to her office in a flash, more embarrassed than she'd ever been. Their voices still reached her however.

"Seriously?" Reno sounded slightly annoyed, "Did ya have to do that?"

"Since when have you had a problem gambling?" Rude asked.

"No, it's not that bet that I have a problem with, you can bet about whatever the hell ya want, but did ya have to let Laney know? You embarrassed her."

"Oh, women _are _sensitive about that kind of thing…" Tseng reflected solemnly. There was silence for a moment before Rude interrupted it.

"You still owe me ten gil, Tseng." The man had finished counting the money already handed over.

"I do not. I distinctly remember the bet being forty gil." The arguing voices faded away as the men took their discussion into an office.

"Reno, come here, I need to talk to you about something," Tseng called the redhead with them. This development urged Elena to recover swiftly from her embarrassment and work on concocting a plan to go with them as the Turks returned to Wutai. It didn't take long for her to arm herself as she would for a mission, all the while listening carefully. She was ready, but the indistinct traces of voices could still be heard. They weren't. Not really sure of what to do, Elena decided to start by sticking close to them all day so they wouldn't be able to slip away. With this in mind, she walked over to Tseng's office and casually entered through the open door.

"What are you guys doing?" Elena leaned against the doorframe and watched. Tseng had a file before him, as always, and was examining it's contents as he spoke to the other two. He had fallen silent as she entered though, and now watched her with a scrutinizing stare. Reno was standing in the middle of the room, flexing one hand that's fingers were newly sheathed in bandages. Rude was at work on the other hand, tightly wrapping the thin, white bandages around the redhead's long fingers.

"As long as you avoid punching anyone, you should be fine…" Rude was saying, his words trailing off awkwardly as Elena entered. All eyes turned to Reno to deal with the situation.

"I already told you, you can't come," Reno stated firmly.

"Are you sure?" Elena questioned.

"Yes, I'm sure. You are goin' to stay right here. We already discussed this, babe."

"Ok, if you really don't want me to come," Elena appeared heavily downcast, and Reno turned back to what he was doing grimly. The girl held her position, looking down at her shoes in sorrow and willing tears to well up in her brown eyes. It wasn't long before a tear began sliding down her cheek and she sniffle carefully. It was her last move, the final trick she had up her sleeve, and luckily for her, it worked.

Reno froze. He turned around to look only to be met by her teary, mournful gaze.

"Laney, don't do this," Reno warned, but there was a desperate tone in his voice that signaled victory for the blonde.

"Do what?" she asked dejectedly, sniffling again as several tears spilled from the corners of her eyes.

"Dammit, quit cryin'!" Reno covered the distance between them in one step, putting his arms around the girl and holding her. He stroked her hair comfortingly. "Come on, Laney. Don't do this to me. I can't stand seein' a woman cry." He sounded irritated and soothing all at once, a strange mixture. Elena didn't say a word, but simply kept the tears and pitiful sniffles coming. Hardly a few seconds later, and Reno had cracked. "Fine, you can come with us as long as you promise to stop cryin'!"

"Really?" Elena sounded hopeful.

"Yup," he sighed.

"Way to be strong, Reno," Rude commented sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"You know I can't handle women cryin'," Reno muttered.

"Alright…" Tseng's eyes flickered back and forth between all his Turks, "I guess I'll just get back to the briefing then, since it seems Elena shall be accompanying us after all." Elena hastily wiped away her tears and listened eagerly as Tseng outlined their mission.

* * *

"There you guys are!" Yuffie exclaimed impatiently, running over to the Turks as they rounded the corner into the dim alley behind the hotel, where they had arranged to meet with the young ninja.

"Tell me where I can find those bitches," Reno had been growing more and more restless since the moment they had left Shinra headquarters. His demand showed just how ready he was to get his revenge.

"Lookin' a lot better, Turkey," Yuffie replied, "Last time I saw you, you looked like shit."

"Yeah, and I felt like it too," Reno answered, "Now give us our stuff and tell us where to find them."

"I won't tell you," Yuffie crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest, "But I will lead you there. It's the only way I can guarantee you won't leave me behind! I'm coming too!"

"What is it with the chicks and wantin' to come?" Reno cast an annoyed look over at Rude who remained expressionless as usual. "Fine, you can come, just don't get in the way."

"Hurray!" Yuffie jumped up and down a few times before handing over their bags, "Here's you stuff. I promise I didn't take anything."

"Except the company credit card, of course," Tseng mentioned casually.

"Well, yeah, but nothing of _yours_," she smiled innocently at Reno and Elena, "Enough about that, let's go kick some ass!"

"We are going for a more stealthy approach," Tseng warned, looking a bit alarmed at the addition of the exuberant ninja to their group.

"Oh, right, that makes sense," Yuffie was suddenly whispering, "I can do stealth. I _am_ a ninja after all!"

"Can we please just get on with it?" Elena spoke up, impatient at the delay. She wanted revenge, for Reno's sake more than her own, but ultimately she just wanted to get it over with minimal injuries.

Yuffie led them to the new hideout of the Shinra-hating ninjas. It was similar to their previous lair, being a shabby and unremarkable building, sure of never standing out.

"Here's the back door," Yuffie hugged the wall and pointed to the wooden door.

"Unguarded?" Elena questioned, seeing no one else in the alley they crept through beside themselves. Yuffie shrugged.

"They probably have their guards on the inside," Reno suggested, "It would be suspicious if they kept guards outside. If they stay inside, no one will see a guarded door, they'll just see a door."

"Good point," Elena replied, feeling a little embarrassed that she hadn't thought of that. _Well, Tseng and Rude didn't either._ _So it must just be Reno then. _She wasn't surprised. They all knew Reno was amazingly clever.

"So," Rude whispered, "Shall we knock it down or pick the lock? Is it even locked?"

"Well we want to keep our presence unknown for as long as possible. There are significantly more of them then there are of us so I'd rather be able to sneak through the building taking them out as we encounter them instead of alerting them to our presence and have them all gang up on us at once," Tseng deliberated out loud.

"It would be louder to knock the door down," Rude contributed.

"I don't think I can pick a lock as quickly as normal," Reno pointed out, looking down at his securely bandaged fingers.

"So that makes it louder, but quicker to knock the door down," Elena summed up, "And quieter, but slower to pick the lock."

"And if there are guards on the inside of the door they'll most likely hear the lock being picked unless they are fairly far away from it," Yuffie added, not to be left out of any conversation.

"How many men are they really goin' to assign to sit by a door?" Reno said, "We could have Rude knock it down and the rest of us just be prepared to take 'em out before they even get a chance to yell. If anyone else hears, they'll come to check it out and we can take 'em out too."

"I think you're right," Tseng nodded, "Let's do it. Use your guns only as a last resort. It's too noisy." Rude cracked his knuckles and the group approached the door in silent determination. They were all serious now. Reno whipped his EMR out and flexed his fingers around it while pushing the dark goggles that held the loose strands of hair back a little farther on his head. Rude cast them all a questioning glance and, met with nods all around, suddenly delivered a powerful kick to the door, very near the lock. The door smashed open with a loud crack and the others rushed in at once, prepared to secure the area.

Only three ninjas were present, and they didn't stand a chance. One hit the floor with a choked gasp, hit by one of Yuffie's shruiken in the throat before he even had time to recover from his surprise. Tseng had neatly slit the throat of another with a dagger he produced seemingly from nowhere and Reno killed the last one, grabbing him from behind, covering his mouth with one hand and placing the other on the back of the man's head. In hardly the space of a second, Reno had snapped the man's neck and the ninja fell limply to the floor with a light thump. The split-second fight felt anti-climactic after the waiting outside, but things weren't over yet.

"This way," Tseng mouthed, leading them all down a hallway quickly. As they ran with hardly a sound to betray their presence, they heard voices back at the door.

"Damn, they found that fast," Rude muttered.

"We'll just keep going, stick together, and kill anyone you encounter," Tseng ordered, "And that applies to you too, Reno. I know how you love to disobey orders but listen to me now. Don't you dare leave my sight!"

"I'm fine, Tseng, really," the redhead objected good humouredly, "They're not gonna torture me again."

"No, you're right," Tseng shot back, "They'll kill you at once this time." Reno abruptly threw his arms around Elena, crushing her between him and the wall and nearly tripping her. A shruiken zipped by in the same second, right where her throat had been before Reno grabbed her.

"That's why I wanted you to stay," Reno whispered in her ear, making her blush for proving his point. Rude had quickly caught the ninja responsible for throwing the weapon, and Tseng had finished him off with his dagger not a moment later.

"Thanks," Elena muttered, pushing Reno off of her a tad more roughly than she had intended, determined to prove her worth before the mission was done.

It wasn't long before she got her chance. They managed to avoid being caught by constantly moving through the halls, but the alarm had been sounded and it wasn't long before they found themselves in the all-out battle they had hoped to elude. The situation was exactly what Reno had feared. The remaining ninjas were attacking the Turks at once, ganging up on them and moving so swiftly it required all of Reno's attention to keep up, especially since he was to abstain from using his hands for fear of damaging his still-healing fingers. Still, he desperately tried to keep an eye on Elena. They all had their hands full and the small room the fight took place in was forcing it to be an extremely close ranged fight.

Reno saw it a milli-second before it happened. Someone managed to knock him off his feet and he hit the floor, managing not to fall on his right side where his broken rib had just healed. He would have been up almost as quickly except for the booted foot that purposefully stepped on his right hand with considerable force.

"Dammit!" Reno cried out, pain crunching through his fingers like a wave of fire. He looked up, wincing, to see the ninja group's leader smiling morbidly down at him. Reno barely had time to register the face when Rude flew into his field of vision, slamming into the man in an all-out tackle. They both hit the floor, leaving Reno free to get to his feet, holding his throbbing hand safely against his chest and biting his lip because of the pain.

Rude had been thrown off by the leader in moments, and the man went after Reno once again, determined to finish what he had started many weeks ago.

"Bring it, bitch," Reno muttered, expertly blocking the man's swift onslaught of kicks and punches. Ignoring Rude's entreaty, Reno saw an opening to get in a punch and he took it, smashing his fist into the man's face, sending him reeling. The act was so painful however, that Reno drew blood from his own lip that he was still biting. The man didn't take long to recover and was back for more, their fight visible as nothing more than a flurry of kicks, punches, and blocking.

The time that passed felt like years, but it had been less than ten minutes by the time the Turks and Yuffie had handled every enemy except for the man Reno still fought with. They watched intently and breathlessly for a few seconds more, the fight too quick for any of them to jump in, before Reno summoned a burst of speed from somewhere and pulled off a dizzying sequence of moves that ended with the man on his knees, the bodies of his followers all around him, and Reno pointing his black handgun at the man's head, breathing heavily. His aquamarine eyes glittered with adrenaline, the rush of victory, and hatred.

"Shinra will die, and you with it," the man spat out, knowing it was over for him, "You've won nothing! We represent a tiny fraction of those unsatisfied with the tyrannical reign of your company. Where we have failed, others will soon succeed! And you, what are you worth? A heartless killer, the mere pawn content to do whatever, kill whomever his master orders without questioning it! That's what all of you are! Monsters! Remember what I said about the girl? She will never really lo-" The man's words were abruptly cut off by a bullet piercing his skull. He too fell to the ground, dead instantly.

The other Turks looked up at Reno in surprise. He calmly put his gun away, rolled his shoulders and looked over to them, calm as usual although Elena caught a flicker of something darker in his eyes. She wondered what the man had been talking about before Reno shot him. _'The girl'…did he mean me? _Elena made a mental note to ask Reno about it later.

"I thought you would have wanted to go for something more, uh, creative," Tseng commented in surprise.

"Yeah," Rude echoed, "I mean, the guy tortured you for days and you let him off easy."

"He wasn't worth my time," Reno shrugged, stepping over bodies to reach his co-workers, "Damned bastard." He gently flexed his fingers, a pained expression on his face. "Guess I'm gonna have to get the doctor to look at these again. Shit, he'll gripe and complain about how he was right and I shouldn't have left the hospital. Dammit." Reno was clearly in a foul temper, the dark scowl on his face and the excessive cursing clues enough. Elena wondered about it. _He should be happier. He just got to finish off those jerks like he wanted!_ She was confused, and a little concerned, but she decided not to irritate him further by asking about it now.

"Hold still," Elena said quietly, taking a step forward to be right in front of him. Putting a hand on his cheek, she wiped away the trickle of blood that was drying on his chin. The red liquid had come from his lip, where he'd bitten it in pain earlier.

"You alright, Laney?" Reno asked, with a slight sigh as his gaze softened.

"Yeah," she nodded, "Just a couple scratches and maybe a few bruises. Nothing serious." She smiled up at him after looking herself over briefly, as if to check for any wounds she'd missed.

"Aw, you guys are like, together now?" Yuffie clapped her hands gleefully and jumped up and down, looking with excitement at the two Turks, "Oh, I bet that's dramatic! Turkey's probably all worried about taking care of you, Elena, was it?" Yuffie didn't wait for an answer, but kept going, her words gaining speed as she went, "And you're probably all annoyed because, hey, you're a Turk too! You can take care of yourself! Oh, it's so cute! Just like Cloud and Tifa!"

"Don't compare me to chocobo-head," Reno warned, not really in the mood for jokes. Elena was amused by the young ninja's enthusiasm and remarkably accurate guesses.

"Yeah, it's a lot like that," she said quietly to the girl.

"So, are we done here?" Rude asked.

"Not until we search this place thoroughly," Tseng spoke up authoritatively, "We need to see if they have any confidential data that belongs to Shinra. We can't just leave it laying around."

"Ugh, that's no fun!" Yuffie complained, then brightened considerably, "Wait, I don't have to! I've got no responsibilities to Shinra!" She began to run off, but Reno caught her arm quickly.

"Oh no you don't," the redhead said, "You owe it to Shinra for all those purchases you made. You're gonna help us search this hell-hole or we're takin' your skinny ass back to the President himself." Yuffie glowered, but reluctantly went to work as they split into groups and began to search the building.

Tseng, not completely lacking a heart, had put Reno and Elena together as a 'team' and assigned part of the building to them. The silence was heavy with all the things Elena wanted to ask about, and Reno's sudden bad mood. She followed him, deep in thought, as he walked through halls quickly, kicking in most of the doors they encountered as opposed to simply opening them like a normal person. They didn't find much of interest, mostly just dusty rooms that were either empty or contained several cots.

"Hey," Elena ventured hesitantly.

"Hmm?"

"What was he talking about?"

"Who?" Reno asked listlessly.

"You know who," Elena grew slightly impatient, "That guy, the one who you shot a minute ago. He said something about a girl…" She left it hanging, expecting Reno to explain from there. He kicked in another door without a word, looked briefly around the empty room and moved on down the hall. Finally he answered her.

"Yeah, he did."

"Well, what did he mean? What was he talking about? Tell me, Reno!" Elena insisted.

"I dunno," the redhead replied vaguely.

"Reno!" Elena quickened her pace to catch up with him, grabbing his arm and turning him around to face her. She tried to look stern and no-nonsense, a difficult feat to accomplish when you were looking up at someone. "I can tell you know exactly what that man was talking about. If you don't want to tell me, fine, you don't have to, but I at least deserve to know if he was talking about me or not!"

"What makes you think he was talking about you?" Reno still tried to avoid really answering her, as he also tried to avoid looking directly at her. There was a troubled look in his eyes.

"What other girl would he have talked to you about?" Elena answered with a question, crossing her arms and looking challengingly up at him. Reno sighed.

"You've got a point," he seemed lost in thought for a moment, and then continued, "Ok, he was talking about you, about something he said to me back when he had us locked up. He knew how I felt about you, and he was just trying to mess with my head, but he said you could never really love me. He said I was a binge-drinker, a womanizer, a chain-smoker, and a…" Reno couldn't meet her sympathetic and horrified gaze as he struggled to say the words, "A druggie. He said no one could ever love that." Reno finally brought himself to look at her, and emotion in his aquamarine eyes was enough to cause actual pain to Elena's heart. She was so angry with the ninja who had said these things to Reno that she could have marched back in there and shot him several more times.

"Well, he's right," Elena said. The look of alarm and hurt that appeared in Reno's eyes prompted her to hurriedly continue. "I couldn't ever love those things. Those are your faults, and I don't love them. Now this is kind of confusing, but just listen! I know I said before that I loved all of you and now I'm saying I don't love your faults, which might sound like a contradiction if you consider your faults to be part of you." Elena frowned in concentration, abandoning trying to make her words sound pretty and simply trying to get her meaning across. Reno had to understand, he just had to. "And they are sort of, but what I really see as _you_ is your ability to overcome and resist those faults. Yeah, so you were a druggie for awhile, but what I focus on about that is how you were strong enough to overcome it. That's what I love. You see?" She looked at him, desperately hoping he would understand.

Reno nodded.

"Don't listen to that bastard, he doesn't know what he's talking about," Elena went on, "Listen to me when I say that I love you, despite whatever you've been through, or will go through. I'm always going to be here for you and I will always love you." Reno looked so completely relieved she thought he might cry. He didn't though. Instead, he pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly.

"Thank you, Elena," Reno breathed, pressing a hard kiss to her lips.

"I knew he shouldn't have sent you two off alone," Rude's voice interrupted all too soon. The man stood awkwardly a few paces down the hall, looking a bit confused at the seriousness on their faces. "Anyway, I finished searching your area now so we can go back and meet up with Tseng and Yuffie…unless of course you guys want a few more minutes or something, I guess I could go back by myself and you could catch up."

"No, we're comin'," Reno laughed, his mood happily changed by Elena's reassurances.

_Author's Note: You guys are probably convinced that I'm Bipolar by now what with the switches between fluff and serious-ness. =P But hey, sometimes life seems like that, no? So anyway, let me know what you thought! Thanks! Give yourself a hug for me. =)_


	31. Chapter 31

_Author's Note: Update! I'm back! I had a lovely vacation, just so you know. =P Ok, surprise, surprise! This is the LAST CHAPTER. This is it people. Yeah, it surprised me too. I'm going to go ahead and tell you right now that this chapter is weird....I've never been good at endings, and this one snuck up on me. The hard part is that it has to be ending enough to not feel like something else should be happening, and yet not so finalized that it feels like THE END. Because *drum roll* I'm writing a sequel! I love the details I have worked up about their lives and I don't want to loose that so.....yeah. xD In the meantime, I've been wanting to do a compilation of random oneshots. So look for the first one of those next Friday, or sooner. I know you want to go ahead and read the chapter, so I won't bother you any longer. =P_

The Turks said goodbye to Yuffie and flew back to Midgar, arriving back in their offices a few hours after dark.

"Yo, Rude! Come here," Reno called from his office as the other man passed by, "It's been a long day, no?" Reno was busily clearing everything off his desk that was breakable, before simply pushing the rest off onto the floor with a wide sweep of the arm.

"Yeah," Rude agreed, raising a suspicious eyebrow at Reno's actions.

"So," Reno settled into his chair, opening the bottom drawer of his desk, "What better was to relax than by doin' a couple shots?" He grinned happily, procuring a mostly full bottle of tequila and two shot glasses from the drawer. Rude answered by pulling up a chair. Two shots of the caramel-colored liquid were poured and drunk in silence.

"Hey, Reno," Elena walked in, looking over her pistol and returning it to her pocket, "When do you…." her voice trailed off as she took in the situation. "What are you doing?"

"Shots. Want in?" Reno replied, swiftly pulling a third shot glass from the drawer, "I bet ya can't do even one without makin' a face." Reno knew what he was doing. Elena's pride flared up.

"I most certainly can!" she grabbed the last chair in Reno's office and pushed it over to the desk quickly, a determined look on her face. Sitting down roughly, she held the shot glass out to Reno who had possession of the liquor. "Watch me."

"Well, Laney, now it's my word against yours. That's not a lot of fun, is it? What do ya say we make it more interesting? How about…if you make a face you gotta take somethin' off." Reno motioned vaguely to her clothing. "And if ya don't…well, me and Rude gotta loose somethin'."

Elena was quickly learning what a dangerous situation she'd gotten herself into. Unfortunately, her pride did not allow her to back out of it. Setting her mouth in a grim line, Elena nodded her agreement curtly. Reno laughed quietly to himself, and poured tequila into the tiny glass, until it reached the very brim and threatened to overflow. Glaring at the redhead, Elena took a deep breath, braced herself, and downed the shot without making a face.

"Good job, Laney," Reno smiled hugely, shrugging out of his black jacket and tossing it behind him. Rude solemnly removed his tie and set it neatly on the table next to him. "Bet ya can't do another." His devilish grin spelled disaster for the blonde, but she simply glared harder and pushed the shot glass towards him, waiting for it to be filled.

The liquor burned as she gulped it down, and try as she might she could not prevent the slight grimace that crossed her face. Any hope that they wouldn't notice was dashed violently to the ground by Reno's immediate laughter. Elena resignedly took of her jacket, folding it carefully over the arm of her chair.

"The least you could do is answer me when I call for you," Tseng began when he entered the room, but abruptly stopped as he looked over the scene before him. His three Turks sat around Reno's empty desk, shot glasses before them and a bottle of tequila held loosely in Reno's hand, the worst possible place for a bottle of any alcohol. He quietly observed the loss of jacket on both Reno and Elena's parts as well as the neatly folded tie beside Rude. "Strip shots? That's new, Reno."

The three of them stared back, slight guilty looks on Rude and Elena's faces, nothing but amusement on Reno's. They were waiting for the lecture when Tseng surprised them by turning around and leaving. They had only a few seconds to recover from this shock when Tseng surprised them even more by returning with a chair. Reno wordlessly pulled yet another shot glass from the drawer.

"This is a stressful job," Tseng commented, as if in explanation. They all nodded in agreement as Reno poured a round of shots.

"Whoever makes a face has to take somethin' off," Reno stated, "Simple as that." Elena cracked her knuckles and gave the shot before her a venomous glance, although she knew this could not end well for her.

* * *

"Guys!" Elena complained, her face flushed by the liquor. It had been about thirty minutes and they were all in very good moods to say the least, and missing a few articles of clothing. Elena had it the worst, and was currently pleading to be allowed to quit taking her clothes off. She was down to her underwear, bra, and shirt. Even her boots and socks had gone. "Come on! Reno, please!"

She could barely hear herself over the laughter. She had made a face at almost every shot since the start, while the men were holding out much better. Elena had never cared for hard liquor. She preferred fruity, mixed drinks that were fairly light on alcohol. The others weren't invincible to the burn of tequila either, it turned out. No one was wearing their shoes or socks at this point, they being the wise person's choice as first to go. Reno had lost his belt in the last round and would soon have to choose between his pants and his shirt. Rude was doing fairly well, and still retained his pants and a t-shirt that he wore under the button-up uniform shirt. Tseng, as it turned out, had an incredible poker face and was in possession of most of his clothing.

"You know the rules, Laney," Reno grinned, still laughing, "Ya make a face, ya take somethin' off. Now make a choice and be quick about it!" His joviality was aided by the amount of tequila he'd consumed in the past half hour. As he poured another round, Elena attempted to hold on to her dignity as she slowly removed her shirt.

"Anybody look and I swear I will break your neck," she threatened, left sitting there uncomfortably in nothing but her underwear and bra.

"Surely that doesn't apply to me, babe," Reno risked her anger to give her a suggestive smile. Elena did not have time to reply, as Reno's office door was suddenly opened, admitting the President of Shinra.

"Here you all are," Rufus spoke without looking up from the cell-phone in his hand, "Tseng, you are lucky this wasn't an emergency because I have been trying to reach you for the past…" Rufus blinked in surprise when he looked up from his phone.

"I must have left my cell phone in my office," Tseng explained, too tipsy to be very concerned. Rufus nodded, glancing slowly over his employees.

"Well, there's only one thing to be done," Rufus sighed, putting away his phone and beginning to strip, "Chivalry is dead, I tell you. You, who call yourselves gentlemen-"

"I do not call myself a gentleman," Reno interrupted, "I prefer sexy beast."

"Who call yourselves gentlemen," Rufus repeated, glaring at the redhead, "Have allowed this poor young lady to suffer such embarrassment all by herself." The President now stood shamelessly before them in nothing but his boxers, decorated with the Shinra logo. Gallantly leaning on the table next to Elena, he smiled enchantingly at the blonde girl.

"You look beautiful, darling," he complimented, utilizing his renowned charm.

"Don't look at her," Reno grumbled threateningly, producing a fifth shot glass from the apparently well-stocked drawer and setting it in front of the President.

"Oh!" Rufus looked delighted, "So the rumors are true. Reno, I would say you have broken the hearts of my entire secretarial staff except their hearts all belong to me, of course. You have significantly darkened their moods however, which I must still thank you for as it turns out they must all get this pent-up emotion out _somehow_." He smiled hugely, leaving no room for doubt as to his meaning. Tseng rolled his eyes, Reno laughed, and Elena just looked uncomfortable.

"On with the shots," Rude insisted, meeting no resistance from the others. A few rounds later, and Reno had lost his shirt. It was mostly Rufus's fault however, since the man had declared he would do Elena a favor and then shoved Reno, causing him to loose concentration and make a face. He argued the point loudly, but took his shirt off without much persuasion.

"We're outta tequila," Reno declared, staring at the empty bottle for a few seconds before reaching into the drawer and producing a bottle of rum.

"Have you got an entire mini-bar in there?" Tseng questioned.

"Oh…my…" Reeve stood shocked in the doorway, his handful of papers fluttering to the floor, "Mr. President…I was just looking for you." The man looked like he hadn't quite processed what was happening yet.

"Is that so? Well, I've been having a meeting with my Turks. What can I do for you, Reeve?" Rufus acted as normal as he usually did, despite the fact that he was currently dressed in nothing but his underwear and in the middle of doing shots with several other half-naked people.

"I…I…just…." Reeve was starting to look annoyed, "I can not even tell you how many company policies you all are breaking right now." A slightly awkward silence reigned for a few seconds until Reno hesitantly pulled yet another shot glass from the drawer and held it up questioningly.

"No, Reno, I have no intentions of doing shots with you all," Reeve shook his head, collected his scattered papers and left hurriedly, doubting he would ever forget what he had seen that night.

The truly amazing thing was that they all managed to get to their homes without any casualties or even injuries. While Elena was definitely drunk, Reno had more of a resistance built up to alcohol and was just rather tipsy. It took quite a bit of attention on the redhead's part to keep Elena from running into things as she stumbled along, giggling at everything.

"Here we are," Reno kicked the door closed behind him, and laughing as he watched Elena try and walk down the hall in a straight line, "Don't hurt yourself, babe."

"What, do you think I can't walk?" Elena looked over her shoulder to laugh at him, and promptly slammed into the wall. She collapsed in a fit of giggles, and would have hit the floor if Reno hadn't caught her just in time. They both ended up sitting on the floor, laughing. Reno held the girl securely in his arms, keeping her steady.

"I'm sleepy," Elena said suddenly, looking up at Reno with unnecessarily solemnity, only making him smile more.

"Me too. Been a long day," he picked Elena up and carried her the rest of the way to the bed. She was already dozing off, still giggling here and there. It wasn't long before both of them were fast asleep, trying to make the most of the few hours they had before work started again.

* * *

Elena glared at her computer screen. Why did the damn thing have to be so bright? She rubbed her temples, the pounding driving her nuts. When she'd woken up that morning, it had taken her a few minutes to remember what had happened. With a gentle kiss, she'd left Reno still sleeping to head over to her own apartment for clean clothes and a cold shower. It had helped, but she was still feeling the effects of last night's interesting events.

Clearly, everyone else was as well. The Turks' offices were a good deal quieter than usual, and they were all slightly irritable. Reno seemed to be the only one who wasn't suffering, or at least the only one who wasn't showing it. _He's probably used to it by now. Damn him and his high-alcohol tolerance!_ Tseng and Rude were no light-weights either, but none of them drank quite as heavily as Reno. _It's a wonder the man's liver has lasted this long._ Elena grumpily stapled a few papers together, taking comfort in the act of 'stabbing' the paper.

"I brought you some more coffee, darlin'," Reno was almost whispering in his attempt not to aggravate her headache. He handed her the steaming mug which she accepted eagerly.

"It's so awful, Reno," she wailed, taking a gulp of coffee and holding her head.

"You ain't seen nothin," Reno smirked, "I've had days when I couldn't even tell what was up and what was down."

"How do you make it stop?" she looked up at him pleadingly, seeking a source of relief.

"Painkillers," Reno said, a bitter tone in his voice suddenly as his expression darkened and he turned and left her office without another word. Elena's surprise momentarily distracted her from her pounding head. She knew about Reno's problems with drugs in the past, and she knew it was an extremely touchy subject for him, but she didn't know just the mention of a painkiller would make him randomly leave like that. _He's the one who actually brought it up too._ She shook her head, abandoning that particular train of thought for now. It hurt her head too much.

Rude had the kindness of heart to show up a few minutes later with aspirin. He gave them to her silently, his expression unreadable behind his dark sunglasses. Elena sighed. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Elena drew her hand lightly up and down the warm, bare skin of Reno's back. He was fast asleep, laying on his stomach, one arm stretched above his head and the other tossed over Elena's waist as if to make sure she wasn't going anywhere. She lay on her side, sheets pulled around her. It could get cold without any clothes. She was feeling completely better after her hangover from the morning. She glanced over at the window, covered almost entirely by a dark curtain. What could be seen of the night outside was a rare sight for Midgar. The moon shone brightly, making the city glow. She couldn't see much of it, but that didn't matter. She could imagine what it looked like, and honestly she would rather look at Reno. The few scars on his back blended easily into his pale skin and could hardly be seen. Elena could feel them though: thin, raised lines here and there that told a story of some past fight. Some of the stories were known to her, and some not. Leaning over, she kissed the back of his neck softly. When she moved away, Reno's bright aquamarine eyes were blinking sleepily at her.

"I love you," she whispered.

"That's great, Laney, now go to sleep," Reno's mumbled words came out as a tired slur while he pulled his arm around her tighter, bringing her closer to him. Smiling and snuggling up willingly, Elena decided that she would be happy forever as long as she could be with Reno.

_Author's Note: Ok, so I wrote this note and then my computer erased it for some reason, so just know that this is the summarized version of what was a lengthy and touching parting note. =P I love you all, you rock, you're like my second family. Please review and don't forget to subscribe to author alert so will tell you when I post a new story. Watch for the sequel because you will love it. =P The original of this note was way better, but I'm not writing it out again. You guys are the best!!!_


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